9t/,3 


THE 


(laj<-    \ 


FOREST    ARCADIA 


NORTHEM  NEW  YORK. 

'embracing 

A    VIEW  OF  ITS  MINERAL,  AGRICULTURAL, 
AND    TIMBER   RESOURCES. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED    BY    T.  0.  H.  P.  BURNHAM. 

NEW  YORK :    OLIVER    S.  FELT. 

1864. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

T.  O.  H.  P.  BURNHAM, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTIPED  AT   THE 
BOSTON    STEREOTYPE    FOUNDRY. 


TO    THE 

HON.  FREDERIC  ¥.  LINCOLN,  JR. 

IN   ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF  THE    INTEREST    TAKEN    BY  HIM 
IN    THE    REGION    OF     COUNTRY    DESCRIBED    IN    THESE 
PAGES,   AND  AS  A  MARK  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  APPRE- 
CIATION   OF    THE    MANY    ACTS    OP    PERSONAL 
KINDNESS  RECEIVED  FROM  HIM  DURING 
THE  FRIENDLY  INTERCOURSE 
OF  MANY  YEARS, 

T  tl  E  S  E      SKETCHES 

ARE    AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATED. 


ivii8G6i4 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/forestarcadiaofnOOcoffrich 


PREFACE. 


That  portion  of  the  great  wilderness  of 
Northern  New  York  visited  by  the  writer,  lies 
in  St.  Lawrence  county,  on  the  western  slope 
of  the  Adirondack  Mountains.  It  forms  part 
of  an  extensive  plateau,  which  is  said  to  em- 
brace an  area  of  many  thousand  square  miles. 
Its  elevation  is  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea. 

The  ascent  from  the  St.  Lawrence  is  gradual, 
and,  apparently,  by  a  series  of  steps,  until  the 
highest  level  is  reached.  The  country  is 
watered,  principally,  by  the  Grass  and  Oswe- 
gatchie  Rivers,  and  is  studded  with  numerous 
lakes  and  ponds.  Cranberry  Lake  is  the 
largest  sheet  of  water  in  the  region,  having 
an  extent  of  five  miles,  and  a  width  of  from 
two  to  three  miles. 

-  (6) 


6  PREFACE. 

The  rivers  following  the  stratification  of  the 
country  flow  by  circuitous  windings  into  the 
St.  Lawrence. 

The  main  branch  of  the  Grass  and  the  Oswe- 
gatchie  are  valuable  streams. 

This  section  has,  thus  far,  escaped  the  notice 
of  the  descriptive  tourist.  It  is  comparatively 
level,  and  contains  a  large  surface  of  good 
farming  lands.  It  is,  at  the  same  time,  not 
devoid  of  romantic  interest ;  but  the  means  of 
access  to  it  are  so  limited  as  to  debar  the  ordi- 
nary pleasure-seeker. 

It  presents  none  of  the  facilities  afforded  by 
the  Saranac  region,  where  the  interior  woods" 
are  penetrated  by  a  series  of  lakes  and  streams, 
opening  into  each  other,  with  occasional  port- 
ages, thus  exempting  the  visitor  from  the  fatigue 
of  much  travel  on  foot. 

Since  these  notes  were  penned,  however,  and 
as  a  result  of  the  visit  herein  narrated,  the  lake 
has,  in  a  general  sense,  been  opened  to  the 
public.  The  Lake  George  road  has  been  cleared 
of  dead  wood,  and  straightened ;  six  to  seven 
miles  of  new  road  cut  to  the  Windfall ;  a  saw- 


PREFACE.  7 

mill  built  upon  the  river  but  a  short  distance 
above  the  old  Indian  fishing-ground ;  and  the 
romance  of  that  secluded  scene,  as  pictured  by 
the  writer,  somewhat  dispelled. 

The  mineral  resources  of  the  plateau  are  of 
great  value,  and  will  hereafter  make  a  large 
item  in  the  productive  wealth  of  the  Empire 
State. 

Immense  ranges  of  magnetic  iron  traverse 
the  country,  and  there  are  also  indications  of 
more  valuable  minerals  in  a  few  localities. 

Of  its  agricultural  importance,  too  much  can- 
not be  said. 

The  soil  is  rich  and  strong,  and  yields  abun- 
dantly the  usual  products  native  to  this  latitude. 

Its  chief  value  in  this  respect  consists  in  its 
peculiar  adaptation  to  the  grazing  of  cattle. 

The  climate  is  that  of  the  hill  country  of  New 
England. 

To  the  lover  of  Nature,  it  presents  the  great- 
est variety  of  attraction,  and  to  the  sportsman, 
abundance  of  game  upon  the  land,  and  fish  in 
the  lakes  and  streams. 

That  it  should  have  been  suffered  to  lie  so 


8  PREFACE. 

long  undeveloped  by  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
active  industry  which  surrounds  it  on  all  sides, 
is  indeed  a  marvel. 

These  hasty  sketches  of  a  ramble  through 
its  silent  recesses,  taken  for  the  purpose  of  an 
examination  into  the  value  of  the  lands,  must 
necessarily  lack  that  variety  of  incident  and 
adventure  which  usually  follow  upon  the  move- 
ments of  the  hunter  and  the  fisherman.  The 
reader  must,  therefore,  be  charitable,  and  if  he 
can  find  these  deficiencies  counterbalanced  by 
any  merit  of  another  kind,  the  writer  will  be 
content. 

To  F.  B.  Hough,  Esq.,  author  of  a  History 
of  St.  Lawrence  and  Franklin  Counties,  —  a 
work  of  great  research  and  value,  —  obligations 
are  due  for  many  facts  and  incidents  occurring 
in  these  pages. 

Dorchester,  1864. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Paoe 
On  the  Road.  —  Rouse's  Point.  —  The  St.  Lawrence 

River.  —  Potsdam  Junction,  .    .    .    .     .    .    .    .    .    13 

CHAPTER  II. 

Potsdam. —  Beauty  of  its  Environs. —  Market  for 
Lumber  and  Produce.  —  Potsdam  Sandstone,  .    .    .    19 

CHAPTER  III. 

Ride  to  Russell.  —  Fine  Views.  —  Great  Dairy  Re- 
gion. —  Apparent  Comfort  of  the  People.  —  Massa- 
chusetts Farmers  contrasted. — Hard  to  realize  the 
State  of  War, 29 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Village  of  Russell.  —  Morning  Aspect.  —  Situation  of 
the  Town.  —  Visit  from  the  Squire.  —  His  long  Iden- 
tification with  the  Forest. —  Description  of  the 
Country.  —  Indication  of  the  Route, 38 

CHAPTER  V. 

A  Day's  Excursion.  —  The  Love  of  Gold,  and  Modes 
of  seeking  it.  —  Old  Traditions  of  valuable  Minerals. 
—  The  Squire  as  a  Magistrate.  —  A  Son  of  Erin. — 
Discovery  of  a  supposed  Vein.  —  Incredulity  of  the 

Squire.  —  Actual  Result, 48 

(9) 


10  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Preparation  and  Start  for  the  Forest.  —  Beautiful 
Road.  —  Richard  Allen's.  —  In  the  Woods.  —  Lake 
George  Road.  —  Clifton  Ore  Bed.  —  Brown.  —  The 
Squire's  Garden, 60 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Heraldry  of  the  "Woods. — Forest  Literature.  —  Cop- 
per Falls.  —  Tormented  by  Mosquitoes.  — The  Fall. 
—  A  Raven.  —  Old  Superstitions.  —  Sir  Thomas 
Browne.  —An  Incident, 73 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Bromaghin  Shanty.  —  Who  was  Bromaghin. — Abun- 
dance of  Deer. — Lawlessness  of  Hunters. — The 
Big  Spruce.  —  Entrance  to  Harewood.  —  The  Squire 
makes  a  Speech.  —  Unexpected  Festivities,     .    .     . 


CHAPTER  IX. 

First  Night  in  Camp.  —  Harewood  Lodge.  —  Romance 
of  the  Place.  —  Aspect  of  Nature.  —  My  Compan- 
ions an  Odd  Mixture.  —  Camp  Fire  lighted.  —  At- 
tempt to  Sleep.  —  An  Alarm. — An  Unseasonable 
Controversy, 97 

CHAPTER  X. 

Up  before  Sunrise.  —  Description  of  Harewood.  —  Set 
out  for  the  Lake.  — The  Great  Windfall.  —  The 
Squire  gets  raspish.  —  Two  fine  Views. — Old  In- 
^an  Fishing  Ground.  —  Cranberry  Lake.  —  Source 
of  the  Oswegatchie  River. —  Lunch. —  Return,  .     .  107 


CONTENTS.  11 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Morton  and  Brown  go  out  to  shear,  and  come  home 
shorn.  —  Lost  in  the  Woods.  — The  Squire's  Ex- 
perience. —  An  Incident  that  happened  to  his 
Father, 123 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Iron    Ore    Beds.  —  Indications    of   other    Minerals. 

—  No  Geological  Survey.  —  Iron,  King.  —  Pro- 
fessor Emmons  on  the  Sanford  Veins.  —  Magnetic 
Iron.  —  Its  Value.  —  Accessibility.  —  General  De- 
ductions,   134 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Beaver  Dams.  —  Trapping.  —  Wild  Animals.  —  The 
Yagesho.  —  Credibility  of  Indian  Traditions,  .     .     .  143 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Put  the  Squire  to  sleep  on  Mining.  — Early  History  in 
England.  —  Former  Unpopularity  in  this  Country. 

—  Enthusiasm  of  the  Old  Spaniards.  —  Develop- 
ment wisely  reserved  to  our  Day.  — Great  Produc- 
tion of  Metals. —Neglect  of  Iron,      152 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Squire  on  Boston  Enterprise.  —  Mineral  Value  of 
the  Region.  —  Means  of  Access  to  it.  —  Saratoga 
and  Ogdensburg  Railroad.  —  Direct  Route  from  Bos- 
ton to  Canada  and  the  West, 163 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

No  Evidence  of  Indian  Settlement.  —  Interesting 
Relics. — Oswegatchie  and  St.  Regis  Tribes. — Le- 


12  CONTENTS. 

gend  of  the  Bell  of  Saut  St.  Louis.  —  Rev.  John 
Williams, 174 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Alone  in  Camp.  —  Communion  with  the  Trees.  —  In- 
fluences of  the  Forest.  —  Its  former  vast  Extent. — 
Improvident  Waste  of  its  Wealth.  —  Probable  Fate 
of  these  Woods.  —  Economic  Value  of  the  Forest,  189 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Breaking  up  Camp.  —  Regrets.  —  Pleasant  Memories 
in  Store. — Bustle  of  Preparation, 200 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Homeward  bound.  —  Imperfect  Knowledge  of  the  Re- 
gion. —  Conjectures  of  the  first  Settlers  on  the  Hud- 
son. —  Territory  of  the  Iroquois. — Sources  of  the 
Rivers.  —  Water  Communication  between  the  Hud- 
son and  the  St.  Lawrence.  —  Clifton  Ore  Bed. — 
Richard  Allen's.  —  Separation  from  my  Compan- 
ions,      207 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Squire  at  Home.  —  Canton.  —  Ogdensburg,  —  Its 
fine- Situation.  —  First  Settlement.  —  Many  beauti- 
ful Buildings.  —  Home, 220 


THE    FOEEST    AKCADIA 

OP 

NORTHERN  NEW  YORK. 
CHAPTER  L 

On  the  Road.  —  Rouse's  Point.  —  The  St.  Lawrence  River. 
—  Potsdam  Junction. 

TIME — five  o'clock  of  an  afternoon  in  June  ; 
place  —  the  station  of  the  Boston  and 
Lowell  Railroad ;  and  then  a  long  slide  on 
iron  runners  —  a  slide  in  midsummer,  over 
green  meadows  and  laughing  waterfalls,  that 
gleam  for  a  moment  in  the  level  sunlight,  and 
suddenly  take  wing,  —  through  narrow  rock 
channels,  chiselled  out  of  the  ribs  of  the  earth, 
rousing  the  echoes  from  their  lair  in  the  caverns, 
—  under  the  jutting  edges  of  high  precipices, — 
through  valleys  that  sleep  in  the  shadows  of  the 
mountains,  these  marvellous  iron-footed  and 
fiery-hearted  forces  hold  on  their  way,  without 
break,  without  weariness,  and  without  rest. 
The  flaming  sun  in  the  west  sinks  slowly  behind 

(13) 


\  U    I   /^\        WEE   FOREST   ARCADIA, 

the  hills,  a  soft  twilight .  shades  and  cools  the 
atmosphere,  and  night  comes  after  to  close  the 
gates  ;  but  there  are  no  gates  that  bar  the  iron 
horse,  and  there  is  no  night  dark  enough  to  hide 
the  flowing  of  his  mane. 

I  sink  doAvn  into  the  depths  of  my  own 
thoughts,  and  by  insensible  degrees  into  a  still 
deeper  deep,  where  thought  becomes  merged  in 
dreams,  and  thus  I  remain  until  I  am  startled 
by  the  cry,  in  a  loud  and  rough  voice,  of  a 
name  that  I  am  sure,  in  my  half-aroused  state, 
I  have  never  heard  before.  But  all  doubt  is 
soon  dispelled.  Rouse's  Point  is  a  mundane 
and  familiar  sound,  and  I  remember  that  I  am 
on  the  road  to  the  Forest.  Follow  me,  gentle 
reader,  if  you  will.  I  will  endeavor  not  to 
exhaust  your  patience.  I  may  sometimes  be 
trivial,  but  hope  not  to  be  tedious. 

Rouse's  Point  lies  in  the  north-east  corner  of 
the  Empire  State,  in  the  angle  formed  by  the 
Canada  line  on  the  north,  and  the  waters  of 
Lake  Champlain  on  the  east.  Looking  north- 
ward, the  eye  sweeps  a  level  country  to  the  St. 
Lawrence  River,  and  eastward,  the  upper 
waters  of  the  lake  bounded  by  the  shores  of 
Vermont  and  Canada.  It  is,  therefore,  in  a 
military  point  of  view,  a  place  of  considerable 
importance ;  but  incapable,  so  far   as  I  could 


ROUSE'S    POINT.  15 

judge,  of  any  very  strong  defensive  works. 
Fort  Montgomery,  constructed  by  our  govern- 
ment, and  now  nearly,  if  not  entirely  complete, 
occupies  an  imposing  site  on  the  north  shore  of 
the  lake,  but  is  rendered  comparatively  value- 
less by  the  new  ideas  in  fortification  and  gun- 
nery which  have  been  evolved  out  of  the  present 
war. 

The  land  in  the  neighborhood,  and  for  much 
of  the  distance  within  reach  of  the  eye,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Ogdensburg  road,  is  quite 
level,  with  occasional  elevations  of  no  great 
height.  A  large  portion  is,  also,  cleared  and 
under  cultivation.  In  other  respects  Rouse's 
Point  is  scarcely  more  than  r  railroad  hostelry. 
It  fumes,  and  frets,  and  fizzes,  and  sneezes  at  all 
hours  of  day  and  night,  but  I  believe,  happily, 
it  rests  on  Sunday. 

There  is  but  little  to  call  for  description  in 
the  surroundings  of  the  station.  The  air  is 
torn  with  the  angry  snarl  of  that  inevitable 
institution,  the  one  or  two  horse  power  wood 
sawyer,  in  which  the  poor  brutes  are  kept  upon 
an  endless  round,  baited,  perhaps,  by  the  sight 
of  a  wisp  of  hay  which  they  are  never  per- 
mitted to  reach.  The  poet  may  talk  or  sing 
of  "  man's  inhumanity  to  man,"  but  man's 
inhumanity  to  the  horse  is  a  more  pervading 


16  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA. 

evil.  There  is  the  usual  collection  of  small 
shops,  stocked  with  such  wares  as  suit  the  un- 
certain humors  of  a  hurried  passenger,  with  an 
occasional  pretentious  private  dwelling,  the  hah- 
itation  of  a  retired  superintendent,  or  some 
still  active  conductor  —  estimable  representa- 
tives, it  may  be,  of  these  two  useful  and  respect- 
able classes,  which  Dr.  Russell  says,  form  an 
important  element  in  the  stratum  of  our  society. 
This,  at  best,  is  all  that  strikes  the  eye  of  one 
who  is  not  permitted  to  linger.  I  was  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  have  from  this  place  as  far  as  Chateau- 
gay,  —  in  the  patois  of  the  county,  Shattegee^  — 
the  company  of  an  active  and  well-known  citi- 
zen of  Vermont,  an  ex-senator  of  the  United 
States,  from  whose  descriptions  of  the  coun- 
try and  general  conversation  I  derived  infor- 
mation. His  presence  led  to  much  discussion 
of  political  topics,  and  many  pros  and  cons 
about  the  war,  in  all  of  which  there  was  be- 
tween us  great  coincidence  of  opinion.  The 
slow  rate  of  speed  enabled  us  to  exhaust  a 
variety  of  subjects  before  the  train  drew  up  at 
Chateaugay. 

The  ride  over  the  Ogdensburg  road  is  deci- 
dedly monotonous.  There  is  no  scenery.  The 
country  is  generally  bare  and  flat.  The  road, 
however,  is  well  managed,  but  without  any  ex- 


THE    ST.    LAWRENCE    RIVER.  17 

travagance  in  the  matter  of  speed.  The  cars 
are  good,  and  the  conductors  polite.  My  frank- 
ness compels  me  to  say  that  as  you  advance 
towards  the  St.  Lawrence  the  imagination  is 
slightly  raised  by  the  thread  of  blue  haze  which 
one  sees  in  the  distance  floating  above  its 
mighty  current. 

I  envy  not  the  man  whose  soul  is  not  alive  to 
the  influences  of  a  great  river.  Shooting  along 
the  iron  planes  on  that  pleasant  June  morning, 
and  gazing  out  over  the  wide  expanse  of  hill 
and  meadow  that  separated  me  from  it,  a  little 
drowsy  from  the  broken  rest  of  the  previous 
night,  and  a  little  dreamy  from  the  associations 
of  the  place,  the  river  became  a  distinct  person- 
ality. My  fancy  busied  itself  with  its  eventful 
history.  When  did  it  first  receive  its  form  out 
of  the  void  of  the  old  Chaos?  .Through  how 
many  cycles  of  pre- Adamite  time  was  it  scooping 
its  bed,  smoothing  and  fertilizing  its  shores,  for 
the  use  and  habitation  of  the  latest  man  ?  I 
imagined  it  might  tell  us  something  of  the  supe- 
rior race,  whose  existence  upon  this  continent, 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  remotest  tradition,  is 
but  little  more  than  a  myth ;  something  more 
than  we  shall  learn  from  any  other  source,  of 
the  successive  generations  of  red  men,  who 
built  their  homes  upon  its  banks,  and  sailed 
2 


18  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

upon  its  waters.  It  might  tell  us  of  its  won- 
dering surprise  on  beholding  the  white  face  of 
Jacques  Cartier  and  his  companions,  and  follow- 
ing him,  the  long  succession  of  white  faces  — 
the  priest  with  his  shaven  crown,  his  crucifix 
and  rosary  ;  the  hunter  with  his  dog  and  gun, 
and  the  woodman  with  his  axe.  Perhaps  it 
was  this  startling  transition,  this  shifting  of  a 
scene  in  the  panorama  of  man  and  the  ages, 
that  made  its  waters  grow  pale,  as  the  old 
chroniclers  would  have  us  believe  was  rather 
the  effect  of  the  great  earthquake.  Full  of 
these  thoughts  I  could  not  help  apostrophizing 
the  weird  and  hoary  genius  of  the  stream,  — 
wishing  it  health,  a  free  course,  and  good 
verge  for  an  unimaginable  length  of  time  to 
come. 

"  Flow  on,  broad  river,  to  the  sea. 
As  thou  hast  flowed^  since  the  bright  circling  spheres, 

To  their  glad  company 
Welcomed  the  young  earth  with  its  golden  years." 

And  much  more  that  was  cut  short  by  the 
sudden  stoppage  of  the  train  at  Potsdam  Junc- 
tion, from  whence  a  pleasant  drive  of  an  horn- 
took  me  to  the  village  of  Potsdam. 


POTSDAM.  19 


CHAPTER  IL 

Potsdam.  —  Beauty  of  its  Environs.  —  Market  for  Lumber 
and  Produce.  —  Potsdam  Sandstone. 

THIS  place,  situated  upon  the  Racket  River, 
is  one  of  the  ten  towns  first  settled  in  St. 
Lawrence  county,  and  a  thriving  village  of 
some  twenty-five  hundred  inhabitants.  The 
whole  township  is,  I  believe,  ten  miles  square, 
and  contains  a  population  of  seven  or  eight 
thousand.  It  is  provided  with  good  schools, 
numerous  religious  societies,  and  many  other 
advantages  of  our  progressive  civilization.  The 
people  are  also  cultivated  and  public-spirited. 

The  village  possesses  great  beauty  of  situa- 
tion. Its  streets  are  wide  and  well  shaded,  and 
the  capacities  of  the  town  for  extension  and 
improvement  are  very  superior.  There  is 
abundant  water-power  in  the  centre  of  busi- 
ness, and  lower  down  the  river,  which  is  never 
at  any  season  of  the  year  exhausted.  Several 
mills  for  the  manufacture  of  various  kinds  of 
lumber,  a  flour  mill,  and  one  or  two  small  facto- 
ries, furnish  means  of  employment,  and  give  life 
and  animation  to  the  place.    For  some  reason  or 


20  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

other,  perhaps  the  want  of  proper  management 
or  a  penny-wise  policy  on  the  part  of  the  rail- 
road, in  the  matter  of  transportation,  the  lum- 
ber interest  has  not  yet  received  any  very  pros- 
perous development.  I  was  told  that  some 
years  since  a  great  excitement  prevailed  in 
this  business,  and  a  large  outlay  of  capital 
was  made  upon  the  Eacket  River,  but  without 
satisfactory  returns,  probably  for  the  reasons 
which  I  have  suggested. 

Nobody,  however,  who  has  examined  the 
timber  resources  of  the  forests  lying  upon  the 
shores  of  the  lakes  and  streams  which  feed  the 
Racket,  and  upon  the  banks  of  the  river  itself, 
ean  for  a  moment  doubt  that  the  time  is  coming 
when  a  large  business  Avill  be  done  here  in  the 
manufacture  of  lumber. 

Potsdam  is  also  a  large  market  for  the  sale 
of  the  dairy  produce  of  the  neighborhood.  It 
may  yield  in  this  respect  to  Canton,  which,  dis- 
tant about  ten  miles  west,  and  lying  nearer  to 
the  New  York  market  by  the  Rome  and  Water- 
town  road,  possesses  some  advantages  over  it. 
If  I  were  not  afraid  of  making  myself  unpleas- 
ant, I  would  like  to  go  into  some  of  the  statistics 
of  production  in  this  noble  county,  which  may 
justly  be  considered  one  of  the  brightest  jewels 
in  the  coronet  of  the  Empire  State,  and  appar- 


POTSDAM  SANDSTONE.  21 

ently  the  most  neglected.  The  last  census 
exhibits  the  tremendous  strides  which  St.  Law- 
rence county  has  taken  during  the  last  decen- 
nial period  in  dairy  produce,  for  which  the  soil, 
being  largely  of  limestone  formation,  is  partic- 
ularly adapted. 

I  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  the  day  is 
not  far  distant  when  this  county,  in  the  figures 
of  agriculture,  will  loom  high  above  any  other 
section  of  equal  extent  in  the  country.  I  spent 
a  night  and  the  better  part  of  a  day  visiting 
several  localities,  among  others  the  Academy, 
a  well  established,  and,  as  I  understand,  suc- 
cessful institution  ;  the  Episcopal  church,  which 
enjoys  a  situation  of  great  picturesqueness  and 
beauty,  but  particularly  with  my  friend  Morton, 
who  had  put  a  few  flies  in  his  pocket,  for  oiFen- 
sive  purposes,  and  a  preparation  of  tar  in  his 
valise,  as  a  measure  of  defence  against  another 
kind  of  flies,  of  which  Isaac  Walton  makes  no 
mention,  in  a  ramble  to  the  quarries  of  the 
Potsdam  Sandstone. 

Here  I  make  a  mark,  because  it  was  my  first 
entrance  upon  that  warfare  in  which  he  that 
putteth  off  his  armor  may  well  exult  over  him 
that  putteth  it  on.  This  was  the  day  on  which 
I  crossed  the  Rubicon,  or  rather  the  Racket, 
and    passed   into   the   Mosquito    territory.      I 


22  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

think  if  Csesar,  when  he  crossed  the  classic 
stream,  had  met  the  swarm  of  insects  which 
attacked  us  on  the  banks  of  this  noisy  river,  he 
would  have  given  up  all  his  dreams  of  glory, 
or  else,  the  foremost  man  of  all  the  world  would 
have  found  himself  reduced  to  the  tender  mer- 
cies of  a  cedar  smudge  and  a  vulgar  pot  of  tar. 
The  walk  was  a  hot  and  very  tedious  one,  and 
greatly  aggravated  by  the  insufficient  measure 
of  its  length  given  us  by  several  authorities  at 
the  hotel. 

The  landlord  contended  for  a  mile  and  a  half, 
while  the  barkeeper  maintained  stoutly  that  it 
was  two  miles.  I  believe  it  turned  out  to  be 
three  or  three  and  a  half.  Well,  here  we  are, 
face  to  face  with  this  old  Silurian,  and  a  wrinkled 
old  beldame  it  is.  It  is  a  veritable  ancient, 
and  lifts  its  head,  —  covered  with  gray  and  di- 
shevelled locks,  and  wet  with  the  dews  of  the 
priuiitive  night,  sphinx-like  into  the  broad  sun- 
light of  the  new  era,  —  challenging  every  passer 
by  for  the  meed  of  reverence  due  to  its  great 
antiquity.  I  can  appreciate  the  sensations  of 
Belzoni  while  measuring  the  head  of  the  colossal 
Memnon ;  I  can  imagine  how  Layard  felt 
when  he  beheld  the  first  trophies  of  his  explora- 
tion at  Nineveh  ;  and  I  can  conceive  of  Cap- 
tain   Speke's    emotions   when    the    conviction 


POTSDAM   SANDSTONE.  23 

flashed  upon  him  that  he  had  discovered  the 
source  of  the  Nile  ;  but  I  can  hardly  account 
for  the  feeling  of  awe  with  which  I  regarded 
this  old  red  rock. 

I  bowed  myself  low  in  its  presence,  and  with 
something  of  the  supplicatory  tone  of  Hamlet 
in  addressing  his  father's  ghost,  I  bespoke  it  in 
this  wise  :  "  Hail !  time-honored  relic  of  the 
old  Creation  —  child  of  the  great  Earth  — 
Mother  !  A  degenerate  son  of  Adam  stands  be- 
fore thee  to  invoke  thy  gracious  favor.  Unfold 
the  great  primordial  mystery  of  thy  birth  ! " 

At  this  moment  a  rumbling  sound  proceeded 
from  the  mouth  of  the  cavern.  It  may  have 
been  that  one  of  the  quarrymen  had  just  loos- 
ened a  shapely  slab  well  suited  for  the  Montreal 
market,  which,  sliding  down  the  declivity,  had 
aroused  the  echoes  ;  but  my  excited  imagina- 
tion seized  upon  it  as  the  voice  of  the  oracle, 
and  the  interpretation  was  this  :  "  Wlio  art  thou 
that  makest  the  day  hideous  with  thy  cries? 
Hast  no  better  employment  than  to  stapd  here 
winking  thine  eyes  and  slapping  thy  face? 
What  sayest  thou  of  Adam  ?  Before  Adam  — 
I  was.  Go  study  the  books  of  thy  philosophers 
—  wise  men  in  their  own  conceit,  who  handle 
the  rich  food  of  the  ages  with  chopsticks,  and 
drop  two  mouthfuls  for  every  one  they  succeed 


24  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

in  swallowing  —  and  thou  slialt  find  my  history, 
written  down  with  all  the  precision  of  fish, 
flesh,  and  fowl  in  a  modern  bill  of  fare.  The 
eldest  of  the  Silurian  dynasty  !  Silurian  !  What 
a  name  ?  Am  I  not  among  the  eldest  of  crea- 
tion ?  And  who  is  this  Azoic  Esau,  with  his 
Lauren tian  and  Huronian  spawn,  that  would 
cheat  me  out  of  my  birthright  ?  " 

Thus  ended  this  improvised  colloquy.  The 
Potsdam  sandstone  is  regarded,  I  believe,  as  the 
lowest  stratification  of  the  earth's  surface  in 
which  fossils  have  been  found.  Some  marks 
discovered  by  Prof.  Emmons  indicate  the  pres- 
ence of  fucoids  at  some  period  of  its  deposition  ; 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  layers  of  rock,  of 
different  thicknesses  separate,  would  seem  to 
warrant  the  conclusion  that  these  lines  of  divis- 
ion were  caused  by  intermediate  depositions  of 
shells,  occurring  at  varying  periods  of  time. 

I  was  told  at  the  quarry  that  a  shell  had  been 
taken  out  of  the  bed  a  few  weeks  previous,  but  it 
was  not  shown.  The  prevailing  formation  of 
this  region  of  country,  with  the  exception  of 
this  patch  of  sandstone,  consists  of  what  is 
called  Primary  rock.  It  is  composed  of  simple 
minerals,  thrown  together  by  the  action  of  heat. 
The  elements  of  these  primary  rocks  are  gener- 
ally quartz,  hornblende,  and  feldspar,  arranged 


POTSDAM   SANDSTONE.  25 

in  regular  or  irregular  strata,  and  highly  in- 
clined. This  combination  is  termed  gneiss  rock. 
The  copper,  lead,  and  iron  ores  are  usually 
found  in  the  gneiss,  and  within  the  limits  of 
this  formation.  St.  LaAvrence  county  is,  doubt- 
less, rich  in  metals.  This  has  been  already 
demonstrated  by  the  discovery  of  valuable  mines 
in  various  parts  of  it. 

The  Potsdam  sandstone  lies  in  the  form  of  a 
man's  foot,  the  heel  resting  upon  the  north  line 
of  Jefferson,  and  the  great  toe  upon  the  east  line 
of  Franklin  county,  and  reaches  in  its  greatest 
length  probably  from  fifty  to  sixty  miles.  I 
suggested  to  Morton  that  the  colossal  pre- 
Adam  in  his  migration  from  the  north  pole  had 
dropped  here  the  sole  of  one  of  his  shoes,  and 
this,  perhaps,  may  not  be  thought  more  ex- 
travagant than  some  of  the  conceits  of  the  pre- 
Adamite  philosophers. 

The  stone,  as  we  observed  it  at  the  quarry,  is 
arranged  in  regular  layers  of  from  two  to  ten 
inches.  The  color  is  a  reddish  brown.  The 
strata  dip  towards  the  north-west  at  an  angle  of 
about  thirty  degrees,  as  nearly  as  could  be  deter- 
mined without  instruments.  The  color  I  under- 
stand to  be  darker  than  that  of  the  stone  quar- 
ried at  Malone.  It  is  cut  with  great  ease,  and 
is  of  great  value  for  building  and  tiling. 


26  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

Having  finished  our  visit,  the  master  of  the 
quarry,  who  proved  to  be  from  Massachusetts, 
was  good  enough  to  allow  one  of  his  men  to  set 
us  across  the  river,  which  is  rapid  at  this  point, 
in  a  light  skiff.  The  task  required  considerable 
sinew  in  the  oarsman,  and  was  attended  with  a 
shade  of  nervousness  on  the  part  of  his  freight, 
lest  one  of  his  oars  should  break ;  in  which 
case,  if  no  greater  damage  had  ensued,  two 
middle-aged  gentlemen  would  have  got  pretty- 
thoroughly  soaked. 

From  the  river  side  we  clambered  up  an 
ascent  of  an  hundred  feet,  and  were  glad  to  rest 
upon  the  ridge,  gathering,  while  we  sat  upon  the 
grass,  sprigs  of  a  tiny  red  flower,  growing  close 
to  the  ground,  but  which,  from  the  neglect  of  my 
education  in  botanical  science,  I  am  not  able  to 
describe  technically ;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  par- 
tially concealed  as  it  was  by  its  own  humility,  the 
flower  resembled  small  globes  of  red  coral.  It 
is  a  modest  flower,  and  being  then  in  a  senti- 
mental mood,  I  put  a  few  of  them  in  my  wallet 
to  send  home  to  the  lady  of  my  heart ;  but  hav- 
ing occasion  afterward  to  make  change  for  a 
palm  leaf  hat  which  I  had  bought  in  the  village, 
I  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  lose  them.  Morton 
^  amused  himself  by  looking  through  a  small  tele- 
scope, which  he  had  brought  from  Boston,  at 


POTSDAM  Sandstone.  27 

the  domes  and  spires  of  the  distant  town.  He 
was  kind  enough  to  lend  it  to  me  for  a  few 
minutes,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  I  could 
not  find  the  focus.  After  getting  quite  rested, 
we  struck  for  the  Pierrepont  road,  and  that 
attained,  pursued  our  weary  way. 

The  day  was  hot,  and  the  road  dry,  so  that 
after  walking  about  a  mile  I  was  fain  to  get 
bestride  a  rail  fence,  and  wait  for  something  to 
turn  up.  The  much-desired  something  soon 
appeared  in  the  shape  of  a  two-horse  wagon. 
Never  having  been  a  proud  man  at  home,  and 
looking  with  dread  upon  the  three  miles  of  road 
before  us,  which  could  only  be  footed,  it  did  not 
cost  me  a  single  twinge  to  sue  very  meekly  for 
a  lift.  The  driver  was  a  good-natured  fellow 
of  the  country,  to  whom  it  came  as  natural  as 
eating  and  drinking  to  do  a  clever  thing ;  he 
brought  up  his  noble  pair  of  grays  at  once. 
Now  it  so  happened  that  while  Morton  made 
his  ascent  at  the  tail  of  the  wagon,  I  made 
mine  at  the  fore  ;  and  as  it  proved  that  our 
obliging  friend  was  a  collector  of  wood  ashes 
for  the  manufacture  of  the  useful  article  of 
potash,  and  that  he  had  already  secured  a  con- 
siderable quantity,  Morton  was  placed  at  great 
disadvantage.  This  disadvantage,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  was,  unwittingly  on  my  part,  aggravated 


28  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

as  we  started  oiF  briskly  down  the  road,  by  the 
interest  which  I  could  not  help  taking  in  the 
horses.  It  aroused  the  driver's  enthusiasm,  and 
led  him  to  touch  up  first  one  and  then  the  other. 
The  shaking  of  the  wagon,  together  with  the 
action  of  tjje  wind  which  blew  in  our  faces, 
naturally  disturbed  the  light  ashes.  The  result 
of  all  this  to  my  companion  in  the  tail  of  the 
wagon  can  be  imagined,  but  not  described.  On 
turning  round  to  observe  whether  he  was  enjoy- 
ing equally  with  myself  the  great  felicity  of  the 
ride,  1  found  him,  to  my  amazement,  in  a  state 
of  almost  complete  obscuration.  At  first  I  was 
afraid  he  had  fallen  out,  but  on  the  driver's  bring- 
ing his  team  to  a  dead  halt,  he  gradually  reap- 
peared, but  looking  for  all  the  world  as  though 
he  had  just  crept  out  of  the  crater  of  Vesuvius, 
and  withal  so  utterly  woebegone,  that  both  the 
driver  and  myself  fairly  roared  with  laughter. 
Morton  thought  it  best  to  alight,  and  getting 
down  myself,  we  soon  found  our  way  to  the 
hotel,  where  an  abundance  of  water  and  a  com- 
fortable dinner  soon  set  every  thing  right. 


RIDE    TO    RUSSELL,  29 


CHAPTER    III, 

Ride  to  Russell.  —  Fine  Views.  —  Great  Dairy  Region. — 
Apparent  Comfort  of  the  People.  —  Massachusetts 
Farmers  contrasted.  —  Hard  to  realize  the  State  of 
War. 

OUR  party  was  increased  in  the  afternoon, 
much  to  our  gratification,  by  the  arrival 
of  another  friend,  who  proposed  going  on  with 
us  to  Russell.  This  gentleman,  to  tlie  credit  of 
his  Vermont  raising,  proved  himself  to  be  a 
perfect  master  in  rural  science.  If  there  was 
any  thing  he  did  not  know  in  the  wide  field  of 
stock-breeding,  with  all  its  modern  refinements, 
I  have  failed  to  discover  it  since.  Whether  he 
talked  of  the  most  valuable  and  attractive  traits 
in  horses,  the  best  manner  of  treating  different 
soils,  or  discriminated  the  varieties  and  pecul- 
iarities of  foliage  of  the  forest  trees,  he  seemed . 
always  at  home. 

Thus  reenforced,  we  were  quite  well  prepared 
for  another  stage,  and  making  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  a  double-seated  open  wagon 
and  a  good  pair  of  horses,  with  an  intelligent 
and  cheerful  driver,  we  set  off  from  Potsdam 
at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  for  Russell. 


30  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

The  distance  between  the  two  places,  by  the 
route  we  took,  which  passed  through  South 
Canton,  avoiding  the  principal  village,  was 
stated  to  be  about  eighteen  miles.  I  should  be 
inclined  to  set  it  at  something  higher ;  in  fact 
I  never  had  to  do  with  such  miles  as  they  reel 
out  in  this  country,  and  I  made  it  a  practice 
to  add  ten  per  cent,  to  all  the  statements  given  * 
me. 

This  is  provoking  to  a  traveller,  to  be  obliged 
to  do  a  sum  in  addition,  when  substraction 
would  suit  him  so  much  better.  We  had  in 
this  ride,  however,  all  the  poet's  enchantment 
without  regard  to  the  distance.  The  sun  was 
slightly  obscured  by  passing  clouds,  and  the  air 
so  fresh  as  to  make  a  light  overcoat  not  uncom- 
fortable. It  should  be  understood  that  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  River,  as  you  approach  the  forest 
region  of  Northern  New  York,  the  land  rises 
gradually,  until  it  attains  its  greatest  height  in 
the  Adirondack  ranges.  This  rise  seems  to  me  to 
be  broken  by  a  series  of  steps  or  plateaus. 

I  believe,  therefore,  the  received  opinion  that 
the  country  on  the  north  or  north-west  slope 
of  the  Adirondack  hills  is  a  rough  and  moun- 
tainous one,  to  be  incorrect.  We  shall  have 
travelled,  when  we  have  reached  the  farthest 
point  to  which  these  notes  carry  us,  a  distance 


LAURENTIAN  HILLS.  31 

of  forty-five  or  fifty  miles  in  a  course  almost 
due  south  from  Potsdam,  and  nowhere  have  we 
found  the  forbidding  characteristics  which  have 
been  so  generally  imputed  to  it.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  was  through  the  whole  extent  of 
our  route  more  than  a  fair  average  quantity  of 
valuable  farming  lands. 

A  short  distance  beyond  South  Canton  our 
road  lay  across  one  of  these  plateaus  which  I 
have  described.  The  elevation  was  so  consid- 
erable that  one  of  our  party  imagined  he  could 
see  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  This,  perhaps, 
might  have  been  if  the  view  had  not  been  ob- 
structed by  intervening  woods.  But,  neverthe- 
less, the  whole  valley  lay  spread  out  before  us, 
gradually  receding  from  the  point  of  observa- 
tion to  the  course  of  the  river,  and  beyond,  on 
the  Canada  shore,  ascending  again  until  the 
view  became, lost  in  the  ridges  of  Laurentian 
hills  that  skirted  the  distant  horizon.  To  make 
the  picture  complete,  the  sun  which  had  been 
concealed  behind  a  wall  of  purple  clouds,  sud- 
denly burst  the  gates  of  his  prison-house,  and 
a  flood  of  fire  rolled  out  upon  the  hills.  Anon, 
the  same  clouds,  rifted  and  ascending,  fashioned 
themselves  into  all  imaginable  shapes,  simulat- 
ing always  the  majestic  forms  of  Nature  :  some- 
times a  huge  iceberg   floating  upon   a  sea  of 


32  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA 

azure,  and  again  the  snow  capped  peaks  of  Al- 
pine hills,  ever  changing,  and  lessening  with 
every  change,  until  they  faded  at  last  into  the 
clear  cerulean  of  the  upper  heaven. 

This  was  a  scene,  taking  it  altogether,  of  un- 
surpassed beauty  and  sublimity,  and  one  which 
required  no  effort  of  the  wonderful  faculties 
with  which  the  Creator  has  endowed  us  to  en- 
joy completely.  But  to  describe  it  so  as  to"* 
convey  the  impressions  made  upon  the  specta- 
tor is  beyond  the  power  of  art. 

And  this  landscape,  beneficent  and  inspiring, 
unfolds  itself  day  after  day  upon  this  magnifi- 
cent plateau,  before  an  appreciating,  but  per- 
haps unlettered  people,  incapable  of  reflecting 
back  any  of  its  glories.  They  have  the  sense 
to  enjoy,  without  the  soul  to  be  inspired. 
There  may  be  some  Miltons  ainong  them,  but 
if  there  are,  they  are  as  yet  "  mijte  and  inglo- 
rious." 

There  was  an  air  of  repose  and  comfort 
along  the  road,  which  pleased  me  exceedingly. 
Nobody  seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry  ;  the  farmer 
who  answered  our  questions  by  the  roadside, 
spoke  in  a  tone  self-possessed  and  calm.  The 
fields  were  well  cleared  for  half  a  mile  on  either 
side,  and  well-fenced,  and  the  houses  were  gen- 
erally framed,  set  back  a  little  from  the  road, 


TOILS   OF   THE   FARMER.  33 

and  well  ordered.  Beyond  the  clearings,  and 
flanking  them  for  miles,  were  dense  groves  of 
sugar  maples,  —  called  in  this  country  sugar 
bushes,  —  their  luxuriant  plumes  nodding  to 
each  other  in  the  evening  breeze  as  we  rode 
by.  Occasionally  the  tinkle  of  a  cow-bell  broke 
the  almost  perfect  silence.  Every  thing  seemed 
to  be  wrapped  in  a  "  dream  of  peace." 

This  appearance  of  ease  and  absence  of  fret, 
which  distinguished  all  the  well-to-do  farmers 
whom  I  met  in  this  region,  so  entirely  different 
from  the  habits  of  those  I  had  been  accustomed 
to  see  at  home,  at  first  surprised  me  ;  but  a 
better  acquaintance  with  them,  and  a  few  fa- 
miliar questions  and  answers,  furnished  me 
with  abundant  reasons  for  the  contrast. 

The  Massachusetts  farmer,  with  but  few  ex- 
ceptions, has  to  deal  with  a  soil  on  which  the 
gifts  of  Nature  have  not  been  lavished.  That 
which  is  not  absolutely  sterile  possesses  no  great 
richness  or  fertility ;  in  fact.  Nature  scarcely 
performs  her  part,  so  that  the  compensations  of 
the  husbandman  but  rarely  exceed  the  cost  of  the 
labor  expended.  In  other  words  the  farmer  never 
accumulates.  In  a  majority  of  instances  he  pays 
his  way,  feeds  and  clothes  his  family,  and  per- 
haps partially  educates  his  children,  but  his 
life  is  one  of  constant  hardship,  attended  with 
3 


34  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

many  disappointments,  and  rewarded  by  few 
of  the  luxuries  of  life. 

Here,  among  this  people,  the  facts  are  differ- 
ent. Notwithstanding  they  are  two  degrees 
north  of  Massachusetts,  and  subject  to  winters 
of  greater  severity,  the  peculiar  qualities  of 
the  soil  which  they  cultivate  much  more  than 
overcome  these  disadvantages.  It  is  strong 
and  rich,  producing  abundantly  without  that 
amount  of  exhausting  labor  required  upon  a 
New  England  farm.  The  secret  of  its  wealth  is 
to  be  found  in  the  formation  on  which  it  rests, 
furnishing,  as  this  formation  does,  the  specific 
elements  needed  to  produce  the  most  nutritious 
grasses,  To  use  the  words  of  the  great  mas- 
ter, the  soil  possesses 

"  the  powerful  grace  that  lies 

In  herbs,  plants,  stones,  and  their  true  qualities." 

And  these  are  the  conditions  which  have  made 
these  lands  productive  of  so  much  wealth. 
The  farmer  devotes  himself  to  the  keeping  of 
cows,  —  some  farms  having  as  many  as  two 
hundred,  —  and  the  making  of  butter  and  cheese, 
which  he  can  readily  sell  without  rnoving  it,  at 
the  highest  market  price.  Instead  of  the  severe 
labor  in  the  field  of  preparing  the  ground, 
planting,  hoeing,  and  reaping,  his  whole  atten- 
tion is  turned  to  the  ''  fresh  fields  and  pastures 


RURAL    QUIET.  35 

new  "  that  surround  his  modest  dwelling.  He 
milks  his  cows,  churns  his  butter,  smoking  his 
pipe  meanwhile,  with  the  greatest  possible  con- 
tentment. It  was  pleasant  to  find  so  much 
cheerfulness  and  ease  among  these  farmers, 
and  to  learn,  as  I  did,  that  most  of  them  were 
emigrants  from  the  New  England  States.  But 
perhaps  some  doubting  spirit  may  question  the 
fairness  of  the  picture  which  I  have  drawn  of 
farm  life  in  St.  Lawrence  county.  If  there 
is  one  such,  let  me  recommend  him  to  go  and 
see  for  himself. 

In  the  midst  of  so  much  rural  quiet  and  se- 
clusion it  is  almost  impossible  to  realize  the 
convulsions  which  are  elsewhere  shaking  the 
foundations  of  the  country  to  its  centre. 

"  Under  what  fortunate  star,"  I  asked  Mor- 
ton, "  are  this  people  living,  that  while  other 
lands  are  devastated,  and  other  homes  made 
desolate,  they  should  be  so  happily  exempted." 

''You  must  remember,"  he  replied,  "that 
wars  very  rarely  spread  over  any  wide  surface 
of  a  country.  Their  course  is  something  like 
that  of  the  tornado,  which,  gathering  up  all 
the  elements  of  destruction,  precipitates  itself 
upon  one  centre,  destroying  every  thing  as  it 
moves  forward  ;  and  for  this  reason  the  success 
of  all  great  operations  in  war  depend  upon  con- 


36  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA. 

centrated  forces.  It  is  only  when  armies  are 
divided,  and  directed  on  dilferent  points,  that 
their  ravages  become  distributed.  This  will 
hold,  I  think,  of  nearly  all  the  wars  of  ancient 
or  modern  times." 

''  Is  that  true  of  the  Roman  wars,  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  campaigns  of  Csesar,  which 
were  spread  over  many  parts  of  several  coun- 
tries, carrying  ruin  every  where  ;  or  to  come 
down  to  modern  instances,  of  the  wars  of  the 
elder  Napoleon,  particularly  in  Italy  and  Spain, 
or  even  of  the  war  which  we  are  now  carrying  on 
for  the  suppression  of  this  rebellion?"  I  asked. 

'•  The  wars  of  the  Romans,  during  the 
aggrandizing  period  of  the  empire,  as  also 
those  of  Napoleon,  might  properly  be  excepted. 
The  animating  spirit  in  both  was  conquest,  and 
in  their  prosecution  new  countries  were  pene- 
trated in  all  directions  ;  our  case  is  scarcely  an 
exception,  inasmuch  as  the  war  has,  to  a  great 
extent,  been  confined  to  certain  fixed  lines,  and 
within  these  lines,  on  both  sides,  the  people 
generally  have  suffered  no  great  hardships. 
To  be  sure  they  have  been  subjected  to  oner- 
ous taxation,  have  been  called  upon  to  perform 
service  in  the  field,  and  restricted  of  some  of 
the  luxuries,  if  not  conveniences,  of  life.  It  is 
this  fact  which  has  enabled  countries  to  speed- 


n 


WAR.  37 

ily  recuperate  after  long  and  exhausting 
wars." 

"  Well,  you  may  be  correct/'  I  replied,  "but 
what  do  you  think  of  the  doctrine  that  war, 
instead  of  enervating,  invigorates  nations  ? " 

"  I  have  no  doubt,  myself,  that  it  does  de- 
velop new  energies,  as  well  as  call  into  action 
some  which  have  lain  dormant." 

''  In  other  words,  it  unlooses  the  caged  lion 
and  permits  him  to  roam  at  large  with  death  in 
his  jaws." 

"  Subject  to  the  military  code." 

"  The  essence  of  the  military  code  enjoins 
the  killing  of  your  enemy  with  the  greatest 
possible  celerity  and ,  certainty.  But  as  I  see 
you  have  got  your  eyes  open,  and  are  about 
putting  on  your  wisdom  cap,  I  will  retire  in 
good  order." 

A  little  farther  on  we  espied  an  urchin,  with 
bare  feet,  playing  in  the  street,  of  whom  I 
asked,  — 

"  How  far  is  it  to  Russell,  my  lad?  " 

'^  Twenty  rods,  sir." 

"  Thank  you." 

And  sure  enough,  there  lay  the  village  nes- 
tlinfjT  under  the  hill. 


38  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 


CHAPTER     IV. 

Village  of  Russell. —  Morning  Aspect. —  Situation  of 
the  Town.  —  Visit  from  the  Squire.  —  His  long  Identi- 
fication with  the  Forest.  —  Description  of  the  Country. 
—  Indication  of  the  Route. 

AWAKING  early  the  next  morning,  after 
.  a  night  of  unbroken  rest,  thoroughly  re- 
freshed and  reanimated,  I  was  constrained  to 
say,  with  Sancho  Panza,  "  God's  blessing  upon 
the  man  who  first  invented  that  selfsame  thing 
called  Sleep,  which  covers  a  man  all  over  like  a 
cloak."  But  Sancho  had  a  rare  trait  in  his 
nature,  the  quality  of  forgetfulness,  which  ena- 
bled him  to  dispel  the 


*  fantasies 


Which  busy  Care  draws  in  the  brains  of  men," 

and  lap  himself  in  the  deepest  profound  of 
slumber. 

It  is  only  those  who  live  nearest  the  sources 
of  life,  and  with  whom  the  simple  instincts  of 
nature  comprise  the  whole  sum  of  existence, 
that  walk  in  the  Elysian  gardens. 

The  man  of  speculation,  the  editor,  scholar, 


VILLAGE   OF  RUSSELL.  39 

and  statesman  behold  with  longing  eyes  the 
coveted  dream-laud  afar  off,  but  rarely  ever 
reach  it.  There  is  one  thing,  however,  which 
is  a  great  help  to  this  class  of  humanity,  and 
that  is,  a  tolerably  clear  conscience,  and  I  should 
also  add,  as  appropriate  to  the  season,  a  good 
mosquito  netting.  With  these  provisions,  the 
first  of  reflection,  and  the  second  of  art,  we  may 
repair  somewhat  the  deficiencies  of  Nature. 

Fortunately  for  me,  I  was  quite  comfortably 
off  in  the  first  particular,  not  altogether  as  to 
the  fact,  but  the  condition  precedent,  good  in- 
tention —  which,  I  am  aware,  some  of  the  old 
divines  would  have  considered  a  poor  merit ;  in 
truth  the  greatest  of  demerits,  if  we  may  believe 
them  to  have  been  sincere  in  their  very  definite 
statement  of  the  use  to  which  good  intentions 
have  been  applied  in  the  realm  of  Pluto. 
Neither  had  I  the  netting,  —  and  I  did  not 
need  it ;  there  was  but  one  mosquito  in  my 
chamber  during  the  night,  and  he,  poor  soli- 
tary, thirsting  for  blood,  but  unwilling  to  attack 
singly,  fell  into  a  state  of  melancholy,  and 
droned  like  the  two  first  lines  of  Goldsmith^s 
Traveller,  until  I  fell  asleep.  But  the  morning, 
how  delicious  it  was  !  If  the  air  was  not  full 
of  balms,  it  was  full  of  oxygen.  I  seated  my- 
self upon  the  stoop  of  the  hotel,  that  I  might 


40  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

breatlie  all  its  freshness,  and  at  the  same  time, 
take  a  survey  of  the  village.  The  time  was 
propitious,  for  there  were  but  few  persons  yet 
moving  in  the  streets  to  distract  the  attention. 
It  lies  upon  the  sides  and  base  of  an  amphi- 
theatre, enclosed  by  ranges  of  high  hills,  not 
widely  apart,  and  arranged  in  the  form  of  an 
extended  ellipsis,  through  the  length  of  which  the 
Grass  River  sends  its  dark  and  reluctant  cur- 
rent. I  should  not,  perhaps,  use  a  term  which 
implies  a  conscious  unwillingness  on  the  part 
of  the  stream  to  deliver  its  waters  to  the  regions 
below,  for  in  point  of  fact  it  is  dammed  here  for 
the  benefit  of  two  or  three  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments. The  hills  which  make  the  walls  of 
this  natural  Colosseum  are  of  volcanic  origin, 
and  interesting  subjects  for  the  geologist. 

Four  roads,  running  at  right  angles,  centre 
in  the  town  ;  the  hotel  stands  upon  one  corner, 
and  the  other  corners  are  occupied  by  shops  ; 
about  sixty  dwelling-houses,  mostly  painted 
white,  and  many  of  them  with  green  plats  in 
front  'y  two  moderate  sized  churches ;  two 
blacksmith's  shops ;  a  bridge,  which  never 
could  have  been  built  on  its  present  founda- 
tions, but  must  have  been  taken  up  in  Canada, 
or  somewhere  else,  and  providentially  dropped  by 
the  great  tornado  ;  a  three-story  brick  arsenal, 


MORNING   ASPECT.  41 

constructed  during  tlie  last  war,  for  what  earthly 
purpose,  nobody  has  yet  discovered,  standing 
like  a  grim  sentinel  over  the  whole,  and  you 
have  as  good  a  picture  as  I  can  draw  of  the 
quiet  village  of  Russell.  This  will  do  for  a 
rough  sketch  —  and  now  for  a  few  touches  in 
detail.  Opposite  the  hotel,  —  which  is  built  of 
brick,  and  has  an  air  of  decayed  gentility  about 
it,  —  is  a  grass  plat,  with  an  old  house  upon  it, 
a  little  retired  from  the  street,  which,  a  conspi- 
cuous sign  upon  the  front  informs  me,  is  occu- 
pied by  the  modiste  of  the  village. 

I  notice  this  with  interest  and  pleasure,  and 
express  my  satisfaction  by  imbibing  frequent 
additional  draughts  of  the  healthful  breezes  that 
sweep  down  from  the  hills.  So,  I  said  to  my- 
self, we  are  not  yet  beyond  the  pale  of  Fashion. 
Presently  a  door  opens,  and  a  maiden  descends 
by  a  single  step  into  the  green  lawn,  glittering 
with  the  morning  dew,  and  tripping  lightly  to 
the  well,  returns  again,  her  face  glowing  in 
the  warm  rays  of  the  smiling  Phoebus,  who  is 
just  taking  his  first  look  into  the  valley. 

Then  follows  the  busy  note  of  preparation  for 
the  day  ;  many  and  various  housewifely  duties, 
I  can  observe,  distract  for  a  while,  this  little 
tenement ;  but  before  the  sun,  using  the  lever- 
age of  the  hill,  has  spun  his  wheel  far  up  into 


42  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

the  blue  vault,  peace  descends  upon  it,  and 
the  open  door  discloses  to  my  view  the  maiden 
quietly  disposed  in  a  low  chair,  looking  out  up- 
on the  sunrise  and  the  "dew  enamelled  mead," 
and  plying  her  fingers  nimbly  in  that  art  of 
arts,  priceless  to  the  fair  daughters  of  Eve, 
which,  taking  nothing  from  beauty  which  Nature 
has  given,  superadds  to  it  the  graces  of  a 
creation  of  its  own.  In  the  desire  to  make  my 
descriptions  graphic,  I  mean  not  to  be  led  into 
the  use  of  language  which  may  seem  of  doubt- 
ful significance,  and  I  therefore  say,  once  for 
all,  that  the  people  of  Russell  are  both  intelli- 
gent and  hospitable,  and  the  ladies  not  only 
pretty  but  agreeable  ;  they  treated  me  well,  and 
if  governed  by  no  higher  motive  in  what  I  may 
have  occasion  to  say  about  them  I  shall  not 
forget  the  selfish  maxim,  Speak  well  of  the 
bridge  that  carries  you  safely  over. 

In  the  midst  of  these  observations  and  rumi- 
nations, Morton  joined  me,  and  we  proceeded 
together,  under  the  direction  of  the  assiduous 
and  obliging  landlord,  to  take  a  brief  lesson  in 
gastronomy. 

After  breakfast  I  was  honored  with  a  call 
from  the  Squire  of  the  village.  This  is  a  com- 
pendious title  in  Northern  New  York,  and 
covers  a  multitude  of  functions.     He  is  some- 


THE   SQUIRE,  43 

times  a  lawyer,  and  sometimes  not ;  our  squire 
is  simply  a  magistrate  with  powers  similar  to 
those  of  our  trial  justices  in  Massachusetts,  but 
not  a  lawyer,  at  least,  in  the  technical  sense. 
He  is  always  pretty  sure  to  be  a  person  of 
strong  common  sense,  and  what  others  have 
learned  from  books,  he  has  gathered  from  the 
wide  field  of  human  experience. 

The  squire  had  graduated  at  tlie  University 
of  llardknocks,  so  he  told  me,  —  a  very  liberal 
institution,  recognizing  no  differences  of  creed 
in  religion  or  politics.  Founded  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  self-support,  the  students  and  faculty 
shifted  for  themselves  ;  and  what  they  lacked  in 
this  particular  was  made  up  from  the  benefac- 
tions, or  malefactions,  as  the  case  might  be,  of 
other  learned  or  unlearned  societies.  He  said 
that  when  he  went  up  for  his  degree,  instead  of 
receiving  the  usual  parchment,  he  was  knocked 
down  two  or  three  times  in  order  that  the  fa- 
culty might  determine,  by  the  manner  in  which 
he  recovered  himself,  whether  he  was  fairly 
entitled  to  it.  With  this  training,  the  squire 
entered  upon  active  life.  Himself,  and  his 
father  before  him,  have  either  led  or  partici- 
pated in  most  of  the  original  and  later  sur- 
veys of  the  once  unbroken  wilderness  of  St. 
Lawrence  county.     Though   not  an  old  man, 


44  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

he  has  seeu  this  wilderness  —  pushed  back,  year 
after  year,  by  the  vigor  and  enterprise  of  hardy 
emigrants  seeking  new  homes  —  bud  and  blos- 
som as  the  rose.  With  his  compass  and  single 
chain-bearer,  he  has  traversed  uncounted  miles 
of  hill  and  valley,  lake  and  stream.  The  lakes, 
by  the  rude  raft  which  the  practised  woodsman 
knows  so  well  how  to  fashion,  and  the  rivers 
by  the  most  primitive  of  all  bridges,  —  that  of 
some  stately  pine  or  hemlock,  which  his  axe, 
with  unerring  skill,  has  laid  from  bank  to 
bank,  —  moving  always  on  compass  lines,  he 
has  crossed  the  beaten  and  devious  paths  of  the 
wild  deer,  scared  the  bear  and  the  panther 
from  their  dens  in  the  rocks,  bivouacked  upon 
the  old  hunting  and  fishing  grounds  of  the  In- 
dian, and,  perhaps,  spread  his  pallet  at  night 
under  the  shade  of  trees  that  have  fanned  with 
their  youthful  boughs  the  red-skinned  mother 
and  child.  His  long  identification  with  the 
progress  of  the  settlement  has  stored  his  mind 
with  a  vast  amount  of  facts  and  incidents  val- 
uable to  the  historian,  while  his  life  in  the 
woods,  furnished,  as  it  must  be,  with  many 
''hairbreadth  'scapes  by  flood  and  field,"  will 
enable  him  to  lengthen  out  the  winter  evenings 
of  his  old  age,  and  afford  unending  amusement 
to  his  grand  and  great-grand  children. 


DESCRIPTION   OF   THE    COUNTRY,       45 

Now,  squire,  I  said  to  our  visitor,  but  in  a 
less  abrupt  phrase  than  this,  we  have  come  up 
here  to  get  a  breath  of  fresh  air,  eat  a  little 
dried  deer's  meat,  if  we  may  not  get  it  fresh, 
catch  a  few  fish,  if  we  can,  see  the  gi-eat 
woods,  and  learn  something  about  the  coun- 
try, and  we  shall  be  greatly  obliged  if  you 
will  open  your  stores  of  information  and  ex- 
perience for  our  benefit. 

The  squire  crossed  his  legs,  brushed  his  fore- 
head with  his  hand  in  his  usual  way,  set  his 
hat  a  little  back  upon  his  head,  and  began  as 
follows :  — 

"  I  can  give  you  nothing  but  a  little  dry 
detail.  When  old  Nathan  Ford  came  to  the 
present  site  of  Ogdensburg,  in  1796,  having 
made  his  journey  partly  by  land  and  partly 
in  batteaux  up  the  Mohawk  River,  thence  to 
the  Black  River,  and  across  Black  Lake  into 
the  Oswegatchie,  and  so  down  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence, the  whole  country  was  a  wilderness ; 
since  that  time,  civilization  has  rapidly  ad^ 
vanced.  By  resting  one  point  of  a  pair  of 
compasses  upon  this  place,  and  extending  the 
other  to  Ogdensburg,  you  will  find  the  distance 
in  a  straight  line  to  be  about  thirty  miles. 
This  will  nearly  represent  the  width  of  the 
strip  of  settlement  and  population  on  the  west 


46  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

border  of  the  county,  following  the  course  of 
the  St.  Lawrence.  The  Potsdam  and  Water- 
town  Railroad,  which  has  taken  the  place  of 
the  old  turnpike,  forms  the  channel  of  commu- 
nication and  trade.  Now,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  county  there  is  a  strip  of  nearly  equal 
width,  extending  from  Lake  Champlain  to  Og- 
densburg,  penetrated  by  the  Northern  Railroad. 
These  two  belts  comprise  the  present  limits  of 
settlement  and  civilization.  Keep  one  point  of 
your  compasses  upon  Russell,  and  swing  the 
other  round  to  the  mouth  of  the  Saranac  River 
on  Lake  Champlain,  and  the  distance  is,  in  a 
straight  line,  about  one  hundred  miles.  The 
whole  of  this  space,  with  the  exception  of  some 
few  settlements  about  eight  miles  from  this, 
and  on  the  lower  and  upper  Saranac,  you  will 
find  to  be  pretty  much  in  the  condition  in 
which  Nature  left  it,  broken  here  and  there  by 
a  clearing  and  a  solitary  log-house.  Advance 
the  extended  leg  of  the  compasses  to  Mount 
Marcy  in  the  Adirondacks,  and  you  have  a  dis- 
tance of  sixty  to  seventy  miles  without  any  set- 
tlements. Now,  contract  the  leg  of  the  com- 
passes, and  place  it  upon  Cranberry  Lake,  the 
reservoir  of  the  Oswegatchie  River,  and  you 
have,  as  I  understand  you,  the  point  of  your 
destination.** 


THE   SQUIRE'S   AID   SECURED.  47 

"  Yes,  and  we  would  like  to  take  you  along 
with  us." 

"  Well,  I  had  rather  be  whipped  than  go 
into  those  woods  at  my  time  of  life  ;  but  if 
you  say  you  cannot  get  along  without  me,  I 
suppose  I  must  yield  to  your  wishes." 

At  this  point  of  the  conversation  the  squire 
was  called  out  by  one  of  his  clients. 


48  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 


CHAPTER   V, 

A  Day's  Excursion.  —  The  Love  of  Gold,  and  Modes  of 
seeking  it.  —  Old  Traditions  of  valuable  Minerals.  — The 
Squire  as  a  Magistrate. — A  Son  of  Erin.  —  Discovery 
of  a  supposed  Vein.  —  Incredulity  of  the  Squire.  — 
Actual  Result. 

THE  universal  love  of  gold  seems  to  be  one 
of  the  great  mysteries  of  human  nature. 
Is  it  an  instinct  implanted  in  man,  or  simply 
a  passion  excited  by  the  rivalries,  necessities,  or 
ambitions  of  life,  or  is  it  only  an  acquired  habit? 
Of  its  existence  as  a  living  fact,  in  all  ages  and 
among  all  races,  there  is  not  a  doubt.  Its  latent 
fires  are  found  in  all  diversities  of  constitution, 
under  all  religious  and  political  systems,  and  in  all 
ranks  of  society,  and  need  but  a  breath  of  favor- 
ing wind  to  be  fanned  into  flame.  Its  least  in- 
fluence is  observable  in  agricultural  and  mechan- 
ical pursuits,  and  its  greatest  in  the  marts  of 
trade  and  upon  the  exchanges  of  populous  cities. 
Its  intensity  is  increased  by  the  attrition  of 
numbers.  When  we  have  discovered  the  rela- 
tion of  one  man  to  another  in  point  of  personal 
contact,  we  have  found  the  ratio  of  the  stimulus 
operating  upon  each.     There  are  many  phases 


THE   LOVE    OF  GOLD.  49 

of  this  instinct,  or  passion,  in  which  the  gross 
and  sordid  quality  becomes  purified  in  strong 
and  adventurous  natures.  With  such  natures, 
gold  is  the  exciting  cause,  but  the  love  of  adven- 
ture furnishes  the  stimulus  to  its  attainment. 
The  most  remarkable  characters  among  the  ex- 
plorers of  new  countries,  either  for  spoil  or  the 
discovery  of  auriferous  deposits,  appear  to  be 
governed  in  nearly  equal  degrees  by  the  love  of 
the  coveted  treasure  itself,  and  the  excitement, 
risk,  and  daring  required  to  obtain  it. 

There  is  one  phase  of  this  ruling  sentiment 
wliich  is  the  most  uninteresting  of  all,  because 
devoid  of  any  redeeming  qualities.  It  is  that 
exhibited  by  our  modern  alchemists,  —  and  by 
this  term  I  mean  those  who,  instead  of  trans- 
muting the  baser  metals  into  gold,  infuse  the 
gold  into  baser  metal ;  in  other  words,  debase 
the  coin  of  the  realm.  This  is  a  more  danger- 
ous, but  simpler  method  than  that  of  the  uni- 
versal solvent  of  the  old  alchemists,  and  cer- 
tainly far  more  practical  than  a  fruitless  hunt 
after  the  philosopher's  stone.  In  these  instances, 
the  mechanical  ingenuity,  as  well  as  risk,  re- 
quired to  accomplish  results,  probably  yield 
the  necessary  excitement.  There  are,  also,  these 
curious  circumstances  connected  with  them 
which  are  worth  noting.  The  old  alchemists, 
4 


50  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

many  or  most  of  them,  were  voluntary  recluses. 
The  new  alchemists  are  pretty  sure  of  becoming 
involuntary  recluses.  If  the  former  sought  in 
vain  for  the  philosopher's  stone,  the  latter  very 
often  find  it,  but  find  it  harder  to  cut  than  had, 
perhaps,  entered  into  their  calculations.  But  of 
all  the  many  ways  in  which  men  seek  to  obtain 
wealth,  that  of  mining  for  the  precious  metals 
presents  perhaps,  the  most  powerful  attractions. 
It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  it  should  be  so, 
when  the  amount  of  labor  and  fatigue,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  frequent  disappointments  of 
raised  expectations  to  which  it  subjects  its  vota- 
ries, is' considered.  It  affects  all  classes  of  per- 
sons alike  ;  the  educated  and  refined,  as  well  as 
the  rude  and  unlearned.  It  is,  however,  a 
strictly  legitimate  occupation. 

It  requires  an  amount  of  toil  to  achieve  re- 
sults pretty  equally  proportioned  to  the  rewards 
obtained  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  great  sums 
realized  in  many  instances,  it  is  doubtful  whether, 
in  the  average  of  the  whole  number  of  persons 
employed  in  the  business,  more  compensation  is 
received  than  would  be  obtained  from  the  same 
amount  of  labor  bestowed  upon  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil. 

Now,  I  may  be  asked  the  purpose  of  this 
dissertation  upon  so  trite  a  subject,  and  I  will 


TRADITIONS   OF  MINERALS.  51 

answer.  The  region  round  about  this  place,  as 
I  have  previously  intimated,  has  acquired  con- 
siderable celebrity  on  account  of  the  great 
variety  and  beauty  of  its  minerals.  Mr.  Hough, 
in  his  admirable  History  of  St.  Lawrence  and 
Franklin  Counties,  enumerates  a  long  list,  — 
sufficiently  large  in  numbers  to  make  a  most 
interesting  cabinet  of  curious  and  valuable 
specimens.  In  connection  with  this  fact,  there 
are  floating  about  many  traditions,  derived  from 
the  Indians,  of  silver  mines,  reported  by  them 
to  exist  in  certain  localities  hitherto  undiscov- 
ered. These  facts  and  traditions  have  excited 
and  kept  alive  among  a  few  individuals  in  tliis 
community,  a  hankering  after  this  precious 
metal,  which  Dame  Nature  so  scrupulously  hides 
under  her  green  apron,  and  of  which  she  stoutly 
refuses,  as  yet,  to  give  any  sign. 

No  scientific  search  or  exploration  for  this 
mineral  had  ever  been  made  ;  but  at  the  time 
of  our  visit,  one  or  two  persons,  not  possessed  of 
the  requisite  knowledge  or  practical  experience, 
were  sinking  shafts  in  one  or  two  places,  on  the 
conjectural  theory  that  they  would  lead  to  veins 
of  silver  or  lead.  To  one  of  these  openings  our 
curiosity  led  us  on  this  occasion. 

I  might,  therefore,  designate  this  chapter  as 
"  A  Search  after  the  Philosopher's  Stone,"  and 


52  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

the  preceding  remarks  may  be  taken  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  incidents  of  the  day.  Before  the 
squire  left  us  to  attend  his  client,  as  narrated 
in  the  last  chapter,  whose  business,  he  after- 
wards told  us,  consisted  of  an  application  for  a 
writ  against  a  neighbor  for  trespass,  damages 
laid  at  five  dollars,  —  out  of  which  he  was  not  to 
be  dissuaded  without  a  long  argument,  —  we  had 
arranged  with  him  for  a  conveyance  to  take  us 
to  two  or  three  interesting  localities.  By  the 
way,  this  habit  of  discouraging  litigation,  to 
which  the  squire  seems  addicted,  is  not  only 
unprofitable,  but  extremely  unprofessional.  Its 
efiect,  in  the  course  of  time  will  be  to  destroy 
one  of  the  bulwarks  of  Anglo- American  liberty 
—  namely,  the  privilege  to  sue.  You  may  as 
well  annul  trial  by  jury,  and  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  as  close  up  the  avenue  by  wiiich  private 
vindictiveness  may  vent  itself.  It  is  a  danger- 
ous innovation. 

"  'Twill  be  recorded  for  a  precedent,"  and  in 
some  later  Anno  Domini,  just  as  like  as  not, 
eventuate  in  a  total  extinction  of  courts,  lawyers, 
and  juries. 

I  told  him  as  much,  after  he  had  taken  his 
seat  beside  me  in  the  wagon,  hinting,  at  the 
same  time,  that  there  might  possibly  be  a  few 
people  who  would   consider  his  action  merito- 


A   MODEL   MAGISTRATE.  53 

rious,  but  with  the  generality  he  would  be  held 
to  be  a  prophet  out  of  his  time.  To  which  he 
replied,  like  a  Christian  gentleman,  the  essence 
of  my  humble  magisterial  duty  is  to  preserve 
the  peace  ;  and,  according  to  my  judgment,  the 
best  way  to  preserve  it  is  to  strive  to  allay  the 
bad  passions  of  men,  which,  in  most  cases,  are 
but  momentary,  and  readily  yield  to  reflection  ; 
and  promote  a  good  understanding,  and  peace- 
able settlement  of  differences.  Of  course,  if 
these  efforts  fail,  I  have  no  other  alternative 
but  to  surrender  myself  a  reluctant  minister  of 
the  legal  formularies. 

Getting  our  party  together  and  disposing  our- 
selves in  that  curious,  but  not  uncomfortable 
conveyance,  a  New  York  wagon,  away  we  rat- 
tle, down  one  slope  to  the  river  and  the  bridge, 
—  the  same  bridge  which,  from  its  singular 
concavity  in  the  centre,  and  general  awry,  I 
conjectured  had  dropped  from  somewhere, — 
and  up  another  slope  on  the  opposite  side,  to 
the  top  of  the  hill.  Stopping  there  for  a  few 
moments  to  examine  an  excavation  in  the  ledge, 
I  picked  two  or  three  fine  specimens  of  iron 
pyrites  out  of  a  vein  in  the  rock,  and  laid  them 
by  as  the  beginnings  of  a  collection  which  I 
hoped  to  obtain  before  the  conclusion  of  my 
jaunt. 


54  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

"What  is  the  character  of  these  rocks?"  I 
asked  the  squire.  "  Volcanic,  I  suppose,"  he 
replied,  "  though  I  don't  pretend  to  much  knowl- 
edge on  such  subjects.  They  appear  to  have 
been  thrown  up  by  the  action  of  heat,  at  some 
time  or  other.  They  are  to  be  found  in  several 
places  in  the  neighborhood,  and  extend  some- 
times for  miles  in  the  form  of  drifts."  This  was 
evident  enough,  on  every  side,  as  we  trotted  along 
through  the  sparse  settlements  which  were  inter- 
spersed between  the  village  and  the  forest. 

Our  road,  for  several  miles,  lay  through  a 
more  broken  country  than  we  had  yet  seen,  but 
the  roughness  of  the  land  had  not  intimidated 
the  settler.  On  every  hand  were  good  farms, 
partially  or  w^holly  cleared,  and  the  axe  was 
still  busy  in  the  hands  of  stalwart  men,  who 
looked  the  woods  in  the  face  without  wincing. 
There  were  many  Irish,  and  a  few  Scotch, 
mixed  with  the  mass  of  New  England  emi- 
grants, whose  enterprise  had  led  them  to  seek  a 
home  far  away  from  the  centres  of  civilization. 
By  and  by  we  reached  the  clearing  of  an  honest 
son  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  whom  the  Squire 
called  Patrick,  —  and  a  fine  meadow  he  had, 
too,  behind  the  rude  log-house  which 'sheltered 
his  little  family.  Patrick's  farm  contained 
about  one  hundred  acres,  and  had  cost  him  but 


A   SON   OF  ERIN,  56 

little  more  than  a  dollar  an  acre.  Nature  had 
already  prepared  the  ten-acre  meadow  to  his 
hands,  and  his  own  labor  had  notched  into  the 
woods  a  fine  large  corn  patch  and  a  pasture  for 
his  cows,  so  that  Patrick  has  become  a  landed 
proprietor,  with  an  abundance  of  cultivatable 
soil  for  his  present  wants,  and  as  much  more  as 
he  might  require  whenever  he  could  find  suffi- 
cient courage  and  sinew  to  attack  the  old  trees 
again.  Patrick  lived  in  the  simplicity  of  na- 
ture, far  enough  from  the  haunts  of  men  to 
have  the  wild  doe  come  at  evening  to  feed  on 
his  fragrant  meadow,  and  perhaps  gambol  with 
his  children,  and  near  enough  to  the  post-office 
to  enable  him  to  hear  occasionally  from  the  Old 
Country.  What  could  Patrick  desire  more? 
Yes,  there  was  one  thing  that  Patrick  wanted, 
and  that  was  money.  Whatever  else  pioneer 
settlers  may  have,  this  is  always  a  rare  com- 
modity with  them ;  and  with  this  filthy  lucre, 
must  I  confess  it,  I  bribed  this  honest  Irish- 
man, this  Blennerhasset  of  the  wild  woods  and 
lakes  of  Russell,  to  show  me  the  way  to  the 
magician's  cave. 

I  am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  the 
squire' S|»fluence,  as  well  as  Patrick's  charac- 
teristic good  nature,  had  as  much  to  do  with 
his  alacrity  in  yielding  to  our  wishes   as  the 


56  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

sight  of  the  much-soiled  postal  paper  which  I 
presented  to  his  admiring  gaze.  "  Patrick," 
said  the  squire,  in  his  blandest  manner,  ''  we 
are  in  search  of  the  philosopher's  stone." 

"  vSure,  yer  honor,  and  it  is  that  same  I  am 
looking  afther  meself." 

"  In  other  words,"  continued  the  Squire, 
"  these  gentlemen,  whom  you  see,  have  taken 
the  notion  that  there  are  some  curious  things 
buried  up,  somewhere  about  here,  in  the  bow- 
els of  the  earth,  and  I  have  an  idea,  also,  that 
some  man  or  magician  has  been  searching,  with 
pick  and  shovel,  for  these  hidden  treasures." 

"  If  it's  that  ye  mane,  squire,  jist  be  aisy 
till  I  pit  on  me  boots,  and  I'll  tak  ye  to  't  im- 
madetly." 

Leaving  our  wagon  in  the  road  in  charge  of 
the  driver,  and  with  Patrick  for  pilot,  we 
plunged  into  the  woods.  There  had  been  a 
fine  mist  all  the  morning,  and  the  day  was 
unusually  warm  for  the  season.  Our  clothing 
w^as  already  pretty  well  soaked,  but  if  any  dry 
spots  were  left,  the  dampness  of  the  trees  and 
the  undergrowth  soon  finished  them.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  external  causes,  the  long  walk 
occasioned  an  amount  of  perspiration  that 
would  have  frightened  the  most  ultra  Thomp- 
sonian.     By  the  time  we  had  got  down  to  the 


THE   MAGICIAN'S   CAVE.  57 

last  point  of  exhaustion,  Patrick  came  to  a 
dead  halt,  like  an  Indian  who  has  lost  his  trail. 

''Well,  what  now,  Patrick?"  asked  the 
Squire. 

"  We  are  all  right,  yer  honor ;  just  climb 
up  to  the  top  of  the  hill  yonder,  and  you'll  find 
the  cave." 

Following  Patrick's  direction,  we  clambered 
up  an  ascent  of  some  forty  or  fifty  feet,  and  saw 
indeed  an  opening  in  the  rock,  which  had  been 
temporarily  covered  in  with  boards.  I  was 
seized  with  an  irresistible  curiosity,  but  the 
squire  sat  down  upon  the  hill,  and  smiled  an 
incredulous  smile.  Remembering  in  my  youth- 
ful reading  of  the  story  of  Aladdin,  that  when 
the  magician  had  brought  him  to  the  mouth  of 
the  cave,  after  embracing  him,  and  putting  a 
ring  on  his  finger,  he  bade  him  pronounce  the 
name  of  his  father  and  grandfather,  and  raise 
up  the  stone,  I  thought  it  best  to  follow  the 
same  formula,  which  I  did ;  but,  I  regret  to 
say,  without  the  success  which  attended  the 
incantation  of  Aladdin.  I  then  removed  the 
boards  and  disclosed  a  deep  cut,  or  hole,  in  the 
edge  of  the  cliiF,  in  what,  perhaps,  would  be 
termed  a  vein.  Sliding  down  the  wall  of  the 
rock  to  a  depth  of  five  or  six  feet,  I  plumped, 
unexpectedly,  into  about  a  foot  of  water,  the 


68  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

collection  of  the  rains  of  the  two  or  three  pre- 
vious days.  A  pick  and  shovel,  and  two  or 
three  drills,  first  attracted  my  attention.  On 
the  right  of  the  opening  was  a  small  cavern  of 
unknown  extent,  displaying  upon  its  sides  and 
roof  some  fine  specimens  of  quartz,  mixed  with 
corruscations  of  lime,  in  the  form  of  stalactites. 
Selecting  a  few  of  the  best  specimens,  I  crawled 
out  to  the  surface.  On  the  outside  were  some 
evidences  of  the  quite  recent  presence  of  the 
magician.  I  called  the  attention  of  the  squire 
to  some  broken  quartz,  which  lay  in  small  piles 
upon  a  smooth  place  on  the  rock,  and  to  a  bark 
fire  upon  the  opposite  side. 

"This  is  undoubtedly  the  silver  -  bearing 
quartz,"  I  said.  "  You  see  that  the  stone  has 
been  broken  into  convenient  sizes,  and  yonder 
is  a  fire  prepared  for  some  purpose  connected 
with  its  reduction." 

The  squire  smiled  again  his  incredulous 
smile. 

I  filled  my  wallet  with  the  broken  rock,  and 
retracing  our  steps  down  the  hill,  chaperoned 
by  Patrick,  we  were  shown  out  of  the  wood. 
A  pleasant  drive  in  the  cool  of  the  afternoon 
brought  us  safely  back  to  Russell,  well  soaked 
and  very  hungry. 

I  chanced  tp  meet  the   magician,  or  rather 


1 


ACTUAL    RESULT,  59 

the  very  matter-of-fact  person  who  was  sinking 
the  shaft  visited  by  us,  a  day  or  two  afterwards, 
and  my  curiosity  prompted  me  to  ask  him  a 
question  or  two. 

''  You  seem  to  have  a  very  promising  opening 
up  in  the  woods." 

''Wall,  I  don'no  how  it'll  turn  out,"  he  re- 
plied. 

"  Don't  you  find  any  mineral  yet?  " 
"  Not  exactly ;  but  we  think  we  are  pretty 
near  the  vein." 

"  What  was  your  object  in  breaking  up  and 
powdering  the  quartz  ?  " 

"  For  tamping,  to  use  in  our  drills." 
"  And  what  was  the  purpose  of  the  fire?" 
"  O  !  that  was  a  bark  smudge,  to  keep  off* 
the  mosquitoes." 

And  this  proved  to  be  one  of  the  many  cases 
of  persistent  but  unsuccessful  mining. 


60  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 


CHAPTER    VL 

Preparation  and  Start  for  the  Forest.  —  Beautiful  Road. 
—  Richard  Allen's.  —  In  the  Woods.  —  Lake  George 
Road.  —  Clifton  Ore  Bed.  —  Brown.  —  The  Squire's 
Garden. 

UP  before  daylight,  and  busy  preparing  for 
a  start.  Our  party  was  to  consist  of  six 
persons,  whose  separate  functions  may  be 
stated  as  follows  :  — 

The  writer,  adventurer,  and  captain  by  cour- 
tesy ;  Morton,  amateur,  and  bearer  of  the 
mathematical  instruments,  consisting  of  a  small 
pocket  compass,  a  box  of  flies,  and  the  before- 
mentioned  telescope,  with  the  distracted  focus  ; 
The  squire,  surveyor  and  guide,  in  charge  of 
the  historical  and  topographical  department ; 
Bennett,  mineralogist,  carrying  pick  and  shovel ; 
Clark,  axe-bearer ;  and  lastly.  Brown,  the 
inimitable,  whose  merits  are  too  conspicuous 
for  any  initial  disguise,  cook  and  general 
factotum. 

Morton  and  myself  were  a  good  deal  exer- 
cised to  find  the  last  point  of  reduction,  con- 
sistent with  health  and  comfort,  to  which  we 
could  bring  our  clothing  and  baggage,  but  at 


A    START  FOR    THE   FOREST,  61 

last  settled  upon  this  very  satisfactory  digest. 
For  personal  attire,  —  a  full  suit  of  thick 
under  flannels,  a  light  pair  of  woollen  pants, 
linen  coat,  straw  hat,  and  a  pair  of  heavy 
boots,  well  greased. 

Our  pack  consisted,  first,  of  an  India  rubber 
blanket,  which  we  had  brought  with  us  from 
Boston,  a  large  woollen  shawl,  an  extra  suit 
of  woollen  under  garments,  two  towels,  three 
pocket  handkerchiefs,  half  a  pound  of  castile 
soap,  slippers,  brush,  comb,  and  various  other 
small  matters  of  the  toilet ;  the  whole  weigh- 
ing, when  tightly  bound  together  in  the  rub- 
ber blanket,  about  twenty-three  pounds ;  to  this 
was  affixed  the  necessary  straps  for  suspend- 
ing it  across  the  back.  We  took  the  addi- 
tional precaution  to  have  made  for  us,  in  dupli- 
cate, a  mosquito  covering  for  the  face,  which, 
drawn  over  the  head,  under  the  hat,  was  closed 
tightly  about  the  neck  by  a  narrow  strip  of 
elastic.  These  were  made  large,  so  as  to  stand 
off  from  the  face  as  much  as  possible.  Morton 
brought  with  him  two  or  three  boxes  of  some 
noted  preparation  against  insects,  of  the  merits 
of  which  I  am  not  able  to  speak,  as  I  did  not 
use  it,  but  if  mosquitoes  have  the  sense  of 
smell,  I  think  it  must  have  taken  off  the  edge 
of  their  appetites.     In  the  matter  of  provisions, 


62  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

our  outfit  was  extremely  frugal,  if  not  meagre. 
It  consisted  mainly,  of  about  twenty  pounds 
of  salt  pork,  four  or  five  dozen  hard  boiled 
eggs,  a  bag  of  Boston  crackers,  a  few  loaves 
of  bread,  one  pound  of  tea,  and  two  dozen 
lemons,  with  a  large  cake  of  maple  sugar.  The 
cooking  utensils  were  limited  to  one  iron  frying- 
pan,  a  tin  tea-pot,  six  small  tin  pans,  with  an 
equal  number  of  knives,  forks,  and  spoons.  In 
addition  to  all  this,  it  should  be  mentioned, 
that  Brown,  out  of  his  own  prudence  and  fore- 
cast, was  specially  provided  with  a  remarkable- 
looking  tin  canteen,  which,  from  time  to  time, 
as  the  exigencies  of  travel  required,  emerged 
mysteriously  from  the  hidden  depths  of  his 
coat  pockets,  and  as  mysteriously  disappeared 
again.  It  will  be  remembered  that  these  vari- 
ous articles  were  to  be  distributed  among  six 
persons,  and  carried  upon  their  backs,  in  addi- 
tion to  those  necessary  changes  of  clothing, 
indispensable  to  comfort  in  camp.  I  make  this 
particular  enumeration  of  comestibles,  and  the 
table  service  used  by  us  on  this  excursion,  for 
the  benefit  of  whoever  may  follow  in  our  track  ; 
and  I  also  respectfully  commend  it  to  the 
notice  of  those  luxurious  gentlemen,  who  make 
the  tour  of  the  lakes  and  forests  of  the  Adiron- 
dacks,  by  way  of  the  Saranac  Eiver  and  Tup- 


A   START  FOR    THE   FOREST.  63 

per's  Lake,  lounging  comfortably  in  a  hired 
batteau,  interrupted  once  or  twice  by  an  insig- 
nificant portage,  it  may  be,  but  provided  with 
tents  and  cots,  unlimited  stores  of  preserved 
meats,  and  rivers  of  champagne.  Try  it  once 
on  this  side  of  the  mountains,  gentlemen,  on 
such  viands  as  you  may  find  it  pleasant  to 
carry  on  your  backs  for  thirty  or  forty  miles, 
and  I  will  guarantee  that  you  shall  come  out 
of  the  woods  stronger,  if  not  wiser  men. 

Nothwithstanding  our  preparations  were 
confined  within  such  narroAV  limits,  I  was 
surprised  to  find  how  many  last  things  were  to 
be  brought  together  at  the  time  we  had  fixed 
upon  for  starting. 

I  had  confidence  in  Brown,  because  the 
squire  had  pronounced  in  so  decided  a  manner 
upon  his  merits  as  to  leave  nothing  open ; 
but  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  had  got  the  village, 
at  an  unseasonable  hour  in  the  morning,  into 
a  very  distracted  condition,  without  bringing 
himself  any  nearer  to  the  completion  of  his 
business. 

There  was  Aldrich  to  be  brought  down  with 
his  long  three-seated  wagon,  and  pair  of  dark 
bays,  —  the  ofi*  horse  the  best  of  the  two. 
There  was  the  axe  to  be  ground,  —  I  wondered 
Brown   had    not   thought    of    that   the    night 


64  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

before.  There  were  the  lemons,  about  which 
the  squire  had  balanced  until  I  threw  in  my 
weight,  —  and  the  clerk  of  the  store,  where 
they  were  to  be  obtained,  was  asleep  in  the 
upper  story  of  the  hotel. 

I  began  to  fear  that  Brown,  in  undertaking 
to  act  as  quartermaster  and  commissary,  had 
assumed  too  many  functions  for  his  quantity 
of  brain,  but  I  must  say  I  was  happily  dis- 
appointed. Like  some  of  our  best  generals, 
there  was  with  him  a  little  appearance  of 
flurry  and  disorder  on  first  taking  the  field,  but 
as  soon  as  the  fight  opened,  it  was  amazing  to 
see  how  sublimely  impassioned  he  was. 

All  difficulties  were  at  length  overcome,  and 
before  the  mist  had  lifted,  or  the  sun  had  shot  a 
single  dart  into  the  sleeping  valley,  we  were 
well  on  our  way.  Up  and  down  hill,  like  the 
road  of  life,  winding  through  pleasant  valleys, 
and  crossing  the  gorges  of  streams,  skirting 
beautiful  ponds,  set  like  pictures  of  silver  in  the 
shadowy  woodlands,  all  fragrant  with  the  breath 
of  the  morning,  Aldrich's  ponies  brought  us, 
before  mid-day,  to  the  little  village  of  Monterey, 
and  the  hospitable  cottage  of  Richard  Allen. 
This  neighborhood,  for  it  is  scarcely  a  village,  is 
eight  miles  from  Russell,  but  is,  nevertheless,  em- 
braced within  the  territorial  limits  of  that  town  ; 


TN   THE    WOODS,  66 

and  although  there  are  one  or  two  clearings 
and  farm-houses  beyond,  it  forms  the  last 
settlement  before  entering  the  forest.  Here 
we  were  glad  to  descend,  for  the  heat  was  be- 
come intense,  and  rest  ourselves  upon  the  green- 
sward. Richard  was  pumping  an  old-fashioned 
churn,  in  front  of  his  door,  as  we  entered,  but 
as  his  labor  had  not  reached  a  consummation, 
and  could  not  be  left,  we  were  constrained  to  ac- 
cept his  discourse  mixed  with  the  regular  thud 
of  the  churn-handle.  But  Richard's  second  self, 
the  excellent  Mrs.  A.,  was  not  complicated  in 
her  husband's  difficulty ;  and  taking  the  honors 
upon  herself,  which  Richard,  if  he  had  been  his 
own  man,  would,  no  doubt,  have  graciously  dis- 
pensed, invited  us  into  the  house,  and  presented 
us  with  such  a  glass  of  raspberry  wine  as  it  had 
never  been  our  good  fortune  to  taste  before. 

Leaving  Allen's,  we  very  soon  struck  into  the 
thick  woods,  following  the  devious  course  of 
what  is  called  the  Lake  George  road.  This 
road  was  cut,  as  I  understood,  during  the  war 
of  1812.  It  must  have  been  a  work  of  great 
labor  and  cost. 

Starting  from  Russell,  it  threads  the  valley  of 

the  Grass  River,  until  it  reaches  the  centre  of 

Harewood,  whence  it  diverges,  in  a  southerly 

direction,  towards  the  region  of  the  lakes.     It 

5 


66  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 

penetrates  the  whole  extent  of  the  forest.  The 
squire  informed  me  that  but  one  vehicle  had 
ever  passed  over  it. 

It  is  nov^^  a  tangled  yarn,  and  ''  no  twister 
ever  twisted  a  twist "  like  it. 

It  is  said  to  have  been  originally  laid  out 
with  considerable  engineering  skill,  and  with 
the  single  exception  of  Bend  Hill,  in  Clifton,  as 
far  as  we  followed  it  the  grades  were  certainly 
quite  reasonable.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  how 
soon  a  road  cut  through  an  extensive  forest,  if 
ever  so  well  made,  left  to  itself,  and  but  little 
travelled,  would  fall  a  prey  to  the  forces  of  Na- 
ture. In  some  places  enormous  trees  had  fallen 
across  it,  which  the  next  coming  hunter  or 
woodsman  had  lacked  the  energy  to  separate 
with  his  axe  and  roll  out  to  the  side,  preferring 
to  make  a  new  path  around  their  upturned 
roots*  Elsewhere  the  growth  of  young  wood 
assisted  the  process  of  obliterayon. 

On  the  sides  of  the  hills,  in  the  valleys  and 
swamps,  the  spring  and  aut,uiiinal  rains  have 
scored  it  terribly.  One  or  two  of  the  old  cause- 
ways w^ere  still  in  tolerable  condition,  the  tim- 
bers having  set  at  defiance  the  principle  of  de- 
cay for  nearly  half  a  century.  I  do  not  know 
by  whom  this  road  was  built,  whether  by  the 
general  government,  for  military  purposes,   oi 


CLIFTON  ORE   BED.  67 

by  the  State  of  New  York.  If  by  the  latter,  it 
is  incredible  that  it  should  have  been  suffered  to 
go  to  ruin,  intersecting,  as  it  does,  a  country  of 
such  vast  importance  in  agricultural  and  min- 
eral resources.  Its  repair  is  essential  to  the 
settlement  and  development  of  these  lands,  and 
if  taken  hold  of  now,  before  any  further  waste 
ensues,  the  cost  would  be  but  trifling. 

Referring  to  my  note-book,  I  find  that  Al- 
drich  carried  us  three  miles  beyond  Allen's,  dis- 
tance eleven  miles  from  Russell,  before  the  road 
became  so  much  obstructed  as  to  make  any  fur- 
ther passage  of  the  wagon  impracticable.  Here 
our  party  descended.  The  packs  were  taken 
out,  and  after  a  short  rest  and  lunch,  slung; 
when,  the  squire  taking  the  lead,  the  rest  of  us 
foUoAved  in  single  file, — Brown  bringing  up  the 
rear,  with  a  little  mountain  on  his  back,  on  the 
top  of  which  the  coffee-pot  and  frying-pan  kept 
up  a  jangled  din  as  we  moved  through  the 
silent  woods. 

Phew  !  what  a  weight  is  twenty-three  pounds, 
suddenly  thrust  upon  the  back  of  one  accus- 
tomed only  to  the  burden  of  a  light  sack  coat ! 
and  what  a  road  for  such  a  burden,  contrasted 
with  the  smooth  pavement  of  State  Street ! 

I  felt  as  though  somebody  had  jumped  upon 
me,  and  fully  realized  the  sensation  of  relief  it 


68  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA. 

would  afford  me  to  shake  him  off.  I  think  I 
can  appreciate  the  willingness  with  which  the 
soldier  parts  with  his  knapsack  on  a  long 
march. 

At  first  it  seemed  impossible  for  me  to  carry 
this  really  light  pack,  but,  to  my  surprise,  the 
longer  I  carried  it,  the  lighter  it  grew ;  and 
what  with  the  diversion  of  mind  occasioned  by 
the  novelty  of  the  scenery,  in  its  ever-changing 
pictures  of  hill  and  vale,  rock  and  stream,  over- 
arched by  lofty  pines  and  hemlocks,  through 
which  the  sunlight  scarcely  penetrated,  and 
wrapped  in  a  dim  cathedral  gloom,  or  the  occa- 
sional sallies  of  my  companions,  I  soon  lost  all 
feeling  of  discomfort  from  it. 

We  took  our  first  rest  and  lunch  at  a  shanty 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  Clifton  ore 
bed.  It  was  a  rough  log-house,  with  the  roof 
fallen  in,  and  refusing  even  shelter  from  sun  or 
rain.  Retiring  a  little  from  the  small  clearing 
which  had  been  made  here  at  some  former  time, 
we  were  soon  disposed,  each  in  some  selected 
nook  of  shade  and  leaves.  Brown  descended 
to  a  brook  near  by  for  water,  which,  clear  and 
cool,  and  discreetly  mixed  with  lemons  and 
maple  sugar,  furnished  a  most  acceptable  drink. 
The  Clifton  ore  bed  is  four  miles  from  Allen's, 
and  our  temporary  halting-place  was  at  the  be- 


BROWN.  69 

ginning  of  the  ascent  to  Bend  Hill,  an  elevation 
of  considerable  height. 

Again  shouldering  our  packs,  the  line  of  pro- 
cession was  taken  up  as  before.  I  Avas  greatly 
amused  by  Brown's  appearance  as  he  adjusted 
his  Ossa  upon  Pelion,  m^s^ing  in  a  good-natured 
grumble  with  every  clash  of  the  pot  and  kettle, 
—  a  most  proper  person  was  he  for  a  woodsman. 
His  name  described  the  pervading  color  of  the 
old  forest.  His  complexion,  coat  and  hat,  were 
brown,  and  blended  well  with  the  sober  tints  of 
the  trees.  He  might  have  stood  for  one  of 
these  sylvan  patriarchs  if  it  had  not  been  for  a 
little  weakness  in  his  knees  which  led  him  to 
prefer  sitting  to  standing ;  but  a  right  good- 
natured  fellow  he  was,  keeping  his  patience 
always  with  every  body  except  the  mosquitoes 
and  black  flies,  against  whom  he  would  occa- 
sionally launch  a  double-shotted  sentence. 

"  Pesky  things  ! "  he  said,  as  he  trudged  along 
behind  me  up  the  rugged  hill,  "  what  on  airth 
they  were  made  for  I  never  could  tell,  but  I 
s'pose  for  some  purpose  or  other  besides  tor- 
menting me.  There !  take  that,  old  brown 
belly ! "  giving  his  face  a  slap,  and  with  the 
action  bringing  the  pot  and  kettle  into  resonant 
contact. 

"  Restrain  your  choler.  Brown,"  I  replied^ 
"  we  haven't  seen  the  worst  of  it  yet." 


70  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

"  Strain  my  collar !  If  I  don't  break  my 
neck  I  shall  be  glad,  with  this  load  on  my 
back,  and  twisting  my  head  all  round  the  com- 
pass to  get  rid  of  the  spiteful  critters." 

"  You  have  been  in  these  woods  too  often,  I 
had  supposed,  to  be  so  much  annoyed  by  such 
trifles." 

"  Yes,  I  have  carried  the  chain  for  the  squire 
on  two  or  three  of.  his  surveying  tramps,  and  I 
allers  found  they  bit  the  worst  in  June  of  any 
other  month.  There's  nothing  good  for  'em 
but  a  smudge.  I  wouldn't  give  a  tinker's  sod- 
der  kettle  for  all  the  grease  in  Russell ;  you  may 
keep  rubbin  't  on  all  day,  and  the  pla^y  things 
is  so  cute  they'll  wait  till  the  ile  gets'  a  leetle 
dry,  and  the  smell  blown  off,  then  down  they'll 
come  upon  you  all  at  onct." 

"  Smoke  is  the  grand  specific,  then?" 

"  That's  the  paycific,  and  nothing  else.  A 
pipe  's  a  good  thing ;  you  lights  your  smudge, 
smokes  your  calermet,  and  gets  a  little  peace." 

"That  accounts  for  the  aborigines  always 
living  in  so  much  smoke,  perhaps." 

"You  mean  the  Injuns.  Wall,  I  s'pose  so. 
Howsomever,  chimbleys  hadn't  been  invented 
in  them  days." 

We  had  now,  after  a  toilsome  tramp  of  four 
miles,  reached  the  other  side  of  Bend  Hill,  and 


THE    SQUIRE'S    GARDEN,  71 

were  passing  through  a  flat  meadow  of  limited 
extent.  The  squire  dropped  behind  to  point 
out  to  me  the  beauties  of  the  picture. 

"  I  call  this  my  garden,"  he  said ;  "I  have 
never  yet  passed  through  it  without  stopping  to 
admire  and  praise." 

The  spot  was  indeed  creditable  to  the  squire's 
sensibility  and  taste.  A  wide  floor  of  rich 
loam  extending  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  either* 
side,  and  covered  with  a  carpet  of  green  velvet, 
the  emerald  green  of  June,  dotted  here  and 
there  with  a  few  young  maples  in  all  the  fresh- 
ness of  young  life,  and  occasional  clumps  of 
ferns,  and  tapestried  with  the  flickering  lights 
and  shades  of  an  afternoon  sun,  made  up  the 
landscape.  Behind  us  the  tall  pines  from  which 
we  had  just  emerged,  rose  up  over  the  rounded 
crest  of  Bend  Hill  like  an  army  of  giant  knights, 
their  dark  plumes  waving  in  the  wind,  and  with 
poised  lances,  listening  for  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet  to  descend  into  the  peaceful  vale  below. 

The  contrast  between  the  frowning  woodland 
shrouded  in  gloom,  and  filling  the  soul  with  an 
oppressive  sadness,  and  the  light  and  laughing 
vistas  of  this  verdant  meadow,  was  very  strik- 
ing and  impressive  ;  but  we  found,  on  passing 
over  it,  the  impressibility  of  the  soil  greatly  out 
of  proportion  to  the  impressiveness  of  the  dis- 


72  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA, 

tant  view.  In  fact,  the  squire's  garden  turned 
out  to  be,  like  many  of  the  illusions  of  life,  ex- 
ceedingly fair  to  the  eye,  but  a  very  unstable 
reality  to  the  feet.  Our  boots  sank  to  their  tops 
in  its  stagnant  ooze,  and  glad  we  were  to  regain 
the  solid  earth  on  the  other  side.  Moving  for- 
ward more  briskly,  after  getting  out  of  the 
swamp,  we  soon  came  to  a  point  on  the  Lake 
George  road  nearest  to  Copper  Falls,  the  direc- 
tion to  which  was  indicated,  as  the  squire 
pointed  out,  by  a  blazed  spruce  tree  of  enor- 
mous size.     Here  we  were  to  rest. 

I  venture  to  say  that  no  militia  company  ever 
ordered  arms  with  greater  quickness  or  precis- 
ion, than  our  party  di'opped  their  packs  under 
the  spreading  branches  of  this  remarkable  old 
spruce.     The  tramp  had  been  a  hard  one. 

"  Water  !  Brown,"  cried  half  a  dozen  voices 
in  a  breath  ^  ''  water  !  water  1 " 

Slap,  slap,  slap,  was  heard  in  all  directions, 
and  with  the  greatest  possible  haste  smudges 
were  lit  in  three  or  four  places  on  the  borders  of 
our  camp  ground.  Morton  commenced  oiling 
up.  I  took  my  pipe,  and  throwing  myself  back 
into  a  hollow  between  two  outorrowingr  roots  of 
the  tree,  gave  myself  up  to  the  feeling  of  ex- 
haustion which  had  seized  every  nerve  and 
muscle  of  my  body. 


HERALDRY    OF    THE     WOODS.  73 


CHAPTER    VIL 

Heraldry  of  the  Woods.  —  Forest  Literature.  —  Copper 
Falls.  —  Tormented  by  Mosquitoes.  —  The  Fall.  —  A 
Raven.  —  Old  Superstitions.  —  Sir  Thomas  Browne.  — 
An  Incident. 

BEFORE  I  left  Russell,  I  had  determined 
on  visiting  this  interesting  water-fall,  which 
lies  on  the  Grass  River,  sixteen  miles  from  that 
village  ;  and  as  the  distance  from  the  road  was 
short,  and  the  time  to  be  consumed  would  still 
leave  us  margin  enough  in  which  to  reach  our 
proposed  camp  before  nightfall,  unless  we  made 
a  complete  break  down,  I  started  up,  after 
getting  a  little  rested,  to  take  the  squire's  di- 
rections. 

"  Where  is  the  hatchet.  Brown?  '* 

"Here  it  is,  sir." 

"  I  will  take  that ;  Morton  has  the  compass, 
and  Bennett  will  take  the  pick.  As  for  the 
squire,  well  leave  him  in  charge  of  Brown 
and  Clark,  with  the  understanding  that  the 
camp  shall  not  be  removed  before  we  return ; 
but  first,  I  must  get  from  his  condescending 
goodness  a  lesson  or  two  in  the  heraldry  of  the 


74  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

woods.  "  What  say  you,  veteran  forester,  as 
to  this  mystery  of  blazonry,  or  blazing,  as  you 
call  it?'' 

"  It  is  a  very  simple  matter,"  responded  the 
squire,  "  and  doesn't  require  any  nice  defini- 
tions ;  what  we  call  blazing  a  tree  is  slicing  oiF 
with  the  hatchet,  in  some  conspicuous  place,  a 
portion  of  the  bark  and  wood  of  about  the  si^e, 
or  two  or  three  times  the  size  of  the  hand,  as  a 
mark  ;  for  instance,  I  will  give  you  a  course  to 
the  river,  —  and,  indeed,  you  can't  miss  it,  for 
if  Brown  will  hold  his  peace,  so  that  you  can 
listen,  you  may  hear  the  sound  of  the  fall ;  you 
will  then  slash  the  trees  as  you  go  along,  on 
both  of  the  inner  sides  of  your  course,  and  if 
you  mark  well  the  point  where  you  leave  the 
woods  and  strike  the  river,  you  will  have  no 
difficulty  in  finding  your  way  back." 

"Was  this  a  practice  with  the  Indians?" 
I  asked. 

"  No,  I  think  not,  as  a  general  thing,"  he 
replied.  "  Blazes  talked  too  loud  for  them  ;  the 
breaking  of  a  small  branch,  or  the  bending  of 
a  sapling,  or  some  still  less  perceptible  mark, 
served  to  assist  their  natural  instinct." 

"  Doesn't  this  slashing  hurt  the  life  of  the 
tree,  squire  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all ;  you  must  girdle  it  in  order  to 
strike  the  vital  principle." 


HERALDRY  OF   THE    WOODS.  75 

"  Perhaps  it  is  a  foolish  idea,  but  I  am  one 
of  those  who  believe  in  the  sensibility,  if  not 
consciousness  of  vegetable  life.  I  don't  think 
you  can  cut  a  tree  in  that  manner  without 
hurting  it ;  waiving  that,  however,  I  am  going 
to  suggest  to  you  an  idea  which  has  arisen  out 
of  this  conversation,  and  it  is  this,  that  ex- 
tremes meet  in  language  as  in  every  thing  else. 
Now,  this  word  blaze ,  in  woodcraft,  is  used  in 
its  original  and  true  sense,  I  apprehend,  which 
is,  to  mark,  to  publish  to  general  notice ;  but 
if  you  were  to  slash  my  side,  or  my  back,  in  the 
manner  you  propose  to  slash  these  trees,  I 
should  be  constrained  to  use  a  common,  but  in 
this  case,  very  appropriate  vulgarism,  and  say, 
'  You  hurt  me  like  the  blazes  / '  " 

"  Capital !  "  cried  Brown. 

"  That  reminds  me,"  Morton  said,  "  of  a 
story  told  of  a  celebrated  western  Methodist 
clergyman,  who  put  up  at  the  Astor  House  soon 
after  it  was  built,  and  on  asking  for  a  room, 
was  shown  up,  through  many  passages,  into 
the  upper  story.  After  being  a  day  or  two  in 
the  house,  he  became  so  much  confused  and 
irritated  by  the  difficulty  of  finding  his  room, 
that  one  day  he  rushed  desperately  into  the 
office. 

"  '  Is  Mr.  Stetson  in?'  he  asked  of  a  gentle- 
man behind  a  counter. 


76  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

" '  Yes,  sir,'  was  the  reply.  '  I  am  Mr. 
Stetson,'  in  the  bland  tones  which  that  gentle- 
man knows  so  well  how  to  use. 

"  '  Have  you  a  broad-axe  in  the  house,  sir.' 
'"1  doubt  if  we  have,  but  I  can  send  out  in  a 
moment  and   get   one,'   he  replied.     Then  fol- 
lowed a  whistle,  and,  '  Here,  Patrick,  take  this 
gentleman's  order  ; '  but  Stetson's  curiosity  hav- 
ing become  excited,  he  asked  the  clergyman,  — 
"  '  For  what  purpose  do  you  wish  it,  sir?  ' 
"  '  I  want  to  hlaze  my  way  up  to  my  room,  so 
that  I  may  be  able  to  find  it  hereafter,  without 
being  obliged  to  have  a  porter  tied  to  my  heels 
all  the  time.' " 

''  There  is  a  good  deal  of  significance  in  these 
blazes,"  continued  the  squire.  "  I  have  occasion- 
ally been  as  much  startled  on  seeing,  in  some  of 
my  surveying  excursions,  in  the  secret  depths 
of  the  wilderness,  where  I  could  hardly  believe 
any  white  man  had  ever  trod  before  me,  a  fresh 
blaze,  as  Crusoe  was  on  observing  footprints  in 
the  sand ;  and  then  again,  they  have  their 
chronology.  I  have  always  been  able  to  tell 
very  nearly  the  age  of  a  blaze  —  my  own  marks 
I  have  no  difficulty  in  detecting  ;  and  they  are, 
also,  good  memorizers.  I  never  see  a  blaze  of 
my  own  making,  though  it  may  have  been  years 
ago,  and  altered  by  the  healing  process,  with- 


FOREST  LITERATURE.  77 

out  recalling  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  made  —  perhaps  the  train  of  thought  which 
occupied  me  at  the  time." 

*•'  This  is  really  sentimental,  squire ;  and 
thus  you  have  been  for  years  writing  your  his- 
tory upon  these  old  trees  !  —  symbolizing  your 
joys  and  griefs,  and  the  secret  aspirations  of 
your  soul,  in  a  language  to  which  you  alone 
possess  the  key.  Fortunate  man  !  this  is  an 
autobiography  to  be  coveted ;  there's  no  field 
here  for  fulsome  flatterers  or  envious  critics. 
I  can  imagine  the  severe  dignity  with  which 
you  will  reply  to  the  enterprising  publisher  who, 
on  reading  these  notes,  shall  solicit  the  materials 
for  your  life  and  adventures,  to  be  comprised 
in  a  stipulated  number  of  pages. 

"  '  Sir,"  you  will  say,  '  my  autobiography  is 
already  written.  It  is  not  reckoned  by  pages, 
but  by  miles.  It  did  not  require  pen,  ink,  or 
paper.  It  is  not  embodied  in  the  common 
forms  of  language.  It  cannot  be  read  of  all 
men,  but  of  only  two.  I  who  stamped  it  with 
the  seal  of  my  consciousness  upon  the  forest  trees 
and  Him  who  reads  our  inmost  thoughts.'  " 

Leaving  the  camp  behind  us  we  struck  into 
the  forest,  in  the  direction  indicated,  marking 
the  trees  as  we  advanced.  It  was  not  long 
before  we  heard  distinctly,  the  noise    of   the 


78  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

rapid,  increasing  as  we  approached  the  river, 
but  such  an  approach ;  there  was  no  beaten 
path,  not  even  a  deer  track  to  relieve  the  feet, 
but  one  commingled  mass  of  dense  under- 
growth, trunks  of  trees,  great  and  small,  in 
all  stages  of  decay,  lying  prone  upon  the  earth, 
like  soldiers  fallen  in  battle,  in  some  cases 
overgrown  with  moss,  and  in  others  reduced 
to  sodded  ridges,  which  caught  the  feet  and 
sent  us  plunging  headlong.  A  wide  strip  of 
sunlight  at  length  opened  upon  the  vision,  and 
the  river  was  before  us.  We  emerged  from 
the  woods  at  the  foot  of  the  fall,  and  waited 
a  moment  or  two  to  be  fanned  by  the  cool 
breezes,  which  its  rushing  current  swept  down 
upon  us. 

Foot-sore  and  weary,  I  felt  a  strong  inclina- 
tion to  strip  and  throw  myself  into  the  stream, 
but  the  impracticability  of  doing  that  was  soon 
demonstrated  by  the  mjrriad  swarms  of  mos- 
quitoes and  gnats  that  filled  every  atom  of  space. 
Surely  it  was  not  safe  to  expose  any  greater 
amount  of  surface  to  these  imps  of  torment. 
Determined,  however,  before  proceeding  any 
further,  to  bathe  my  feet  in  the  tempting  wave, 
I  sat  down  upon  a  smooth  rock,  close  to  its 
edge,  and  pulling  oif  boots  and  stockings, 
dropped  my  feet  in  the  water.     Ah  !  how  shall 


TORMENTED   BY  MOSQUITOES,  79 

I  describe  the  delicious  sensation  of  coolness 
which  permeated  every  part  of  my  body  ?  But 
it  was  too  much  bliss  to  last ;  for  what  I  gained 
in  coolness  and  rest  below  the  line  of  the  water, 
was  more  than  counteracted  by  the  pursuing 
and  puncturing  hate  of  all  above  it ;  and  yet  the 
skies  looked  placidly  down,  the  waters  smiled 
and  gurgled  in  the  eddies  of  the  rapid,  and  the 
forest  trees,  serene  and  stately,  stood  like  tall 
sentinels  upon  the  shore.  I  never  before  appre- 
ciated the  difference  between  taking  off  and 
putting  on  one's  boots.  In  fact,  I  never  sup- 
posed there  was  any  appreciable  difference 
between  the  two  operations  until  now. 

I  succeeded  in  getting  on  my  stockings  quite 
comfortably,  but  when  it  came  to  the  boots,  — 
first,  right  boot,  both  straps  in  hand,  and  foot  in 
the  leg.  Phew  !  what  a  storm  of  insects  !  I  drop 
the  boot  and  slap,  slap,  slap  ;  and  failing,  after 
three  attempts,  to  get  the  boot  on,  pick  them 
both  up  and  move  off  towards  the  top  of  the 
fall  in  stocking  feet,  in  search  of  a  square  foot 
of  Heaven's  free  air  that  is  not  set  with  needles. 

Well,  here  we  are  at  the  top  of  the  fall. 

From  a  rock  jutting  over  the  stream,  I  was 
able  to  obtain  a  very  good  view  of  it.  I  have 
used  the  term  fall  improperly  in  this  case.  It 
is  not  a  fall  in  any  correct  sense,  for  the  waters 


80  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 

neither  come  down  as  they  do  at  Niagara,  or 
even  at  Trenton.  It  is  rather  a  shoot,  —  the  river 
rushing  down  an  inclined  plane  through  crooked 
channels,  which  have  been  hollowed  out  of  the 
trap-rock  by  the  action  of  the  current. 

I  was  disappointed  in  the  volume  of  water, 
which  was  not  as  great  as  I  had  expected  to  see. 

There  were  no  startling  effects  of  any  kind, 
no  abrupt  precipices,  no  roar  like  near  or  dis- 
tant thunder,  no  blare  as  of  a  trumpet ;  but, 
raising  its  voice  sufficiently  loud  to  be  heard 
for  a  considerable  distance,  in  tones  of  sadness, 
rather  than  anger,  it  seemed  to  chide  the  brood- 
ing silence  of  the  surrounding  woods. 

I  sat  down  upon  the  rock,  and  soon  lost 
myself  in  the  entrancing  spirit  of  the  scene. 
Was  ever  solitude  more  profound  ?  but  it  was 
the  solitude  of  the  individual  man  in  the  great 
throng  of  Nature. 

*'  To  sit  on  rocks,  to  muse  o'er  flood  and  fell, 
To  slowly  trace  the  forest's  shady  scene. 
Where  things  that  own  not  man's  dominion  dwell, 

And  mortal  foot  hath  ne'er  or  rarely  been  ;  — 
This  is  not  solitude  ;  'tis  but  to  hold 
Converse  with  Nature's    charms,   and    see    her    stores 
unrolled."  ; ' 

The  dense,  dark  evergreen  forest,  extending  on 
all  sides  for  miles  and  miles,  towered  above  and 


A   RAVEN.  81 

around  me.^How  insignificant  is  man  in  the  ma- 
jestic presence  of  Nature  !  and  what  a  sense  of 
his  insignificance  is  forced  upon  him  by  the  as- 
pect of  these  great  forces  of  original  creation ! 
The  life  of  man  is  but  a  day, — the  life  of  Nature 
is  coexistent  with  the  life  of  God ;  it  sweeps 
on  forever.  The  lofty  and  flute-like  voice  of 
this  river,  the  sad  and  pervading  monotone  of 
the  forest,  have  chanted  here  their  hymn 
of  praise  to  the  Creator,  unconscious  of  the 
existence  of  man,  for  uncounted  centuries.^ 

Hark  !  what  sound  is  that  ?  It  is  the  croak 
of  a  raven.  Perched  upon  a  branch  of  a  tall 
hemlock,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  he 
sat  looking  down  upon  me  with  a  grotesque 
inquisitiveness,  apparently  seeking  to  attract 
my  attention  by  his  guttural  cries. 

It  was  the  first  I  had  seen  since  coming  into 
the  woods,  and  I  could  not  resist  a  momentary 
feeling  of  superstitious  awe  as  I  listened  to  his 
ominous  voice  ;  but  it  was  only  momentary,  for 
I  have  not  a  trace  of  superstition  in  my  na- 
ture ;  and  besides,  the  shade  of  old  Sir  Thomas 
Browne  came  to  the  rescue,  —  wisest  of  men, 
and  prince  of  authors  !  —  whose  clear  reason 
and  vast  knowledge  dispelled  so  many  of  the 
black  phantoms  which  ignorance  and  credulity 
had  raised  and  kept  alive  in  the  dark  ages. 
6 


82  .  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

"  Ill-omened  bird  !  as  legends  say, 

Who  hast  the  wondrous  power  to  know. 

While  health  fills  high  the  throbbing  veins. 

The  fated  hour  when  blood  must  flow." 

Preach  away,  Master  Raven  !  it  is  all  the  same 
to  me  ;  you  are  but  one  of  the  vast  tribe  of 
habitants  of  these  woods,  and  you  are  not  more 
likely  than  any  other  to  be  the  selected  augur 
for  this  occasion  ;  but,  I  must  confess,  I  don't 
fancy  too  much  of  your  music. 

I  seized  a  stone,  and  would  have  thrown  it 
at  the  tree  to  hasten  his  flight,  but  my  hand 
was  withheld  by  the  sacred  associations  con- 
nected with  the  bird.  "  Are  not  these  associ- 
ations the  source  of  all  the  old  superstitions 
concerning  him?"  I  asked  myself.  From 
among  all  the  feathered  tribe  the  raven  was 
selected  by  the  Almighty  to  feed  the  prophet 
Elijah ;  and  he  is  spoken  of  elsewhere  as  the 
object  of  his  special  care. 

No.  According  to  Sir  Thomas  Browne  the 
superstition  is  older  than  the  recorded  history 
of  pagan  nations.  ''  Because  many  ravens 
were  seen  w^hen  Alexander  entered  Babylon, 
they  were  thought  to  prenominate  his  death  ; 
which,  though  decrepit  superstitions,  and  such 
as  had  their  nativity  in  times  beyond  all  his- 
tory, are   fresh   in   the  observation   of   many 


CONVERSATION  WITH  BROWN.  83 

heads,  and  by  the  credulous  and  feminine  party 
still  in  some  majesty  among  us." 

There  he  goes  !  sailing  away  over  the  ever- 
green sea,  and  I  am  not  sorry  to  lose  his  com- 
pany. 

Succeeding  at  last  in  getting  into  my  boots, 
I  recalled  my  companions,  and  we  traced  our 
way  back  to  camp. 

Our  arrival  was  the  signal  for  a  move ; 
packs  were  shouldered,  and  the  squire,  strik- 
ing out  into  the  path,  took  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  column.  I  lingered  behind  to 
confabulate  with  Brown,  who  brought  up  the 
rear  with  his  own  pack  and  whatever  else  those 
preceding  him  had  chosen  to  forget.  This  fail- 
ure of  the  divine  faculty  seemed  to  aifect  every 
other  member  of  our  party  by  turns  at  each 
of  the  halting-places,  and  Brown  was  thus  kept 
inordinately  piled  up  to  the  end  of  the  journey. 

The  conversation  that  ensued  was  of  an  ejac- 
ulatory  character,  being  much  broken,  on  his 
part^  by  sallies  of  both  hand  and  voice  at  the 
swarms  of  mosquitoes  that,  sagaciously  observ- 
ing his  inability  to  make  much  defence  against 
their  attacks,  selected  him  as  an  especial  victim. 
I  have  never  known  a  man  in  the  course  of  my 
life,  into  whose  history  and  habits  of  mind  I 
have  been  able  to  penetrate  far,  that  had  not 


84  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

some  particular  idiosyncrasy,  some  ruling  idea, 
or  some  act  of  personal  heroism,  which  consti- 
tuted the  centre  of  his  moral  x  system,  around 
which  every  other  circumstance  revolved,  to  be 
attracted  or  repelled,  in  the  exact  proportion  of 
its  sympathy  with,  or  antipathy  to,  the  central 
magnet.  We  had  not  proceeded  far  before  I 
learned  that  Brown's  history  had  been,  compar- 
atively, an  uneventful  one.  He  was  raised  in 
Vermont,  had  been  out  West,  and  had  also  fol- 
lowed the  squire,  as  chain-bearer,  in  one  or 
two  of  his  surveying  excursions,  in  all  which 
he  had  not  been  entirely  unheroic ;  but  the 
chief  event  in  his  life,  the  one  which  appeared 
to  give  him  the  most  satisfaction,  and  by  which 
he  measured  every  other,  was  a  trip  he  had 
once  made  to  Poughkeepsie  with  a  drove  of 
cattle. 

What  there  could  be  in  this  most  uninterest- 
ing and  matter-of-fact  incident  to  absorb  so 
much  reflection,  I  sought  in  vain  to  discover  ; 
but  it  was  evidently  the  hinge  on  which  every 
thing  else  turned.  After  sundry  questions,  the 
answers  to  which  brought  no  satisfactory  solu- 
tion, I  fell  back  on  a  theory  of  my  own,  which 
I  fancy  rests  on  a  good  philosophical  basis.  No 
man  ever  imparts  the  whole  of  his  conscious- 
ness to  his  fellow.     In  all  our  communications 


AN  INCIDENT.  85 

with  each  other  there  is  always  more  kept  back 
than  is  disclosed.  Now,  this  cattle  driving 
was,  probably,  but  an  incident  to  some  other 
act  or  event  that  happened  to  Brown  on  his 
way  to  Poughkeepsie,  that  was  really  of  so 
much  weight  as  to  become  the  load-star  of  his 
future  life. 

Perhaps  he  had  found  a  sweetheart  or  wife 
in  some  village  tavern,  or  a  bag  of  gold  hid  in 
the  cleft  of  a  rock  by  the  wayside,  which,  if 
the  owner  had  not  reclaimed  it,  might  have 
saved  him  from  the  misery  of  carrying  this 
pack,  and  being  tortured  by  these  mosquitoes. 

There  was  certainly  a  secret  history  to  this 
journey  with  the  cattle,  for  whenever  I  referred 
to  it,  as  I  would  occasionally  do,  tossing  it  at 
him  in  a  joking  way,  I  observed  how  quickly  it 
touched  him,  as  though  a  pleasant  thought  had 
been  hit. 

But  enough  of  this  ;  suffice  it  to  say  that 
Brown  occupied  me  with  the  shifting  scenes  of 
his  pastoral  drama  until  we  reached  the  next 
rest,  which  was  at  Bromaghin  Shanty. 


86  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 


CHAPTER    VIIL 

Bromaghin  Shanty.  —  Who  was  Bromaghin?  —  Abundance 
of  Deer.  —  Lawlessness  of  Hunters.  —  The  Big  Spruce 
— Entrance  to  Harewood.  —  The  Squire  makes  a  Speech. 
—  Unexpected  Festivities. 

WHO  was  Bromaghin  ?**  1  thundered  at  the 
squire,  indignant  at  the  style  of  archi- 
tecture which  that  gentleman  had  adopted  in 
the  building  before  us.  The  squire  fell  back, 
apparently  as  much  staggered  as  if  I  had  asked 
him  who  was  the  author  of  Junius,  —  that  vex- 
atious question  which  every  body  asks,  but 
nobody  answers. 

"  Who  was  Bromaghin  ?  Why,  he  was  Brom- 
aghin, and  something  more,  —  he  was  an  Irish- 
man, —  who 

'  Came  to  this  beach,  an  exile  of  Erin, 
The  dew  on  his  forehead  hung  heavy  and  chill.* 

"  If  he  had  confined  himself  to  beech,  instead  of 
degrading  the  princely  pine,  in  the  building  of 
this  shanty,  I  should  be  more  content  with  him, 
I  suspect,  squire,  he  had  more  dew  inside  than 
out  when  he  set  about  this  work.'* 


BROMAGHIN  SHANTY.  87 

"  You  are  inclined  to  be  facetious,  sir." 

*''  I  don't  know  the  word,  squire,  or  rather  I 
do  know  that  there  is  such  a  word  in  the  lan- 
guage, but  it  has  gone  out  of  use.  Bromaghin 
Shanty  !  —  it  is  a  pity  Vanbrugh  could  not  have 
seen  it  before  he  built  Blenheim." 

It  was  a  house  about  eight  feet  square,  and 
as  many  feet  high,  built  of  pine  logs,  squared 
on  two  sides,  and  nicely  jointed  together  at  the 
ends  ;  the  top  was  covered  with  slabs  of  the 
same  wood,  except  on  one  side  of  the  roof, 
where  a  hole  was  left  open  for  the  escape  of 
smoke. 

The  entrance  was  about  four  feet  long  and 
two  wide,  with  the  lower  part  eighteen  inches 
above  the  ground,  so  that  in  going  in  two  simul- 
taneous motions  of  the  body  were  necessary, 
to  wit :  the  raising  of  the  right  or  left  foot  to 
achieve  the  straddle,  and  a  depression  of  the 
head  and  shoulders.  If  it  happened  that  the 
last  movement  was  not  executed  in  time,  a  blow 
on  the  face,  or  some  part  of  the  head,  was  inevi- 
table. 

As  Rock  Shanty,  our  headquarters  in  Hare- 
wood,  although  somewhat  larger,  was  con- 
structed on  the  same  plan,  I  had  frequent 
occasion  to  observe  the  ludicrous  appearance 
of  the  human  biped  when  at  the  middle  point 
of  entrance.      On  the  inside  nothing  was  to  be 


88  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 

seen  but  the  face,  one  arm,  and  one  leg,  and  on 
the  outside  the  back,  arched  and  protruding,  the 
other  leg  and  a  part  of  the  other  arm. 

"  Bromaghin  was  a  hunter,  I  suppose, 
squire  ?  " 

"  Yes,  he  was  all  of  that,  and  something  more, 
—  he  was  a  poacher." 

"Ah!  ha!" 

"  And  not  only  a  poacher,  but  a  trespasser," 
continued  the  squire. 

"  And  not  only  a  trespasser,  but  a  very  good 
shot,  I  suppose  ;  but  where  were  your  laws, 
Mr.  Magistrate,  that  this  bold  Robin  Hood 
was  not  seized  in  the  act  of  his  trespass,  and 
brought  to  condign  punishment  ?  " 

"  Laws  ;  ha  !  ha  !  Well,  that  is  a  good  one. 
The  only  law  that  I  ever  heard  of  in  these 
woods,  relates  to  the  bark  of  these  trees  and  the 
bite  of  the  mosquitoes,  and  that  is  the  law  of 
self-preservation.  In  that  you  have  both  bane 
and  antidote,  for  what  a  bark  smudge  can't  do 
for  mosquitoes  nothing  else  can." 

"  I  am  amazed,  squire,  that  a  man  of  your 
gravity  should  treat  so  serious  a  matter  as  this 
with  such  levity.     This  Mr.  Brummagem." 

"  Bromaghin." 

"Bromaghin  expatriates  himself  from  the 
Emerald  Isle,  where  he  must  have  formed  a 
pretty  accurate  knowledge  of  the  sacredness  of 


LAWLESSNESS    OF  HUNTERS.  89 

a  gentleman's  preserves,  makes  a  voyage  of 
three  thousand  miles,  and  a  journey  of  five  hun- 
dred, and  with  no  fear  of  the  laws  before  his 
eyes." 

"Or  of  snakes  and  mosquitoes." 

"  Comes  into  these  parks,  and  deliberately 
sets  himself  to  work  building  substantial  lodges, 
three  or  four  miles  apart,  to  secrete  or  shelter 
himself  while  pursuing  his  ranges  for  deer." 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  of  the  famous  park  of 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire  in  England,  squire  ?  " 

"  I  think  I  have." 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  His  Grace  the 
Duke's  Steward  would  have  said,  if,  on  coming 
down  to  his  breakfast  some  fine  morning,  he  had 
been  told  that  during  the  night  or  the  day  pre- 
vious some  member  of  the  Bromaghin  family 
had  been  constructing  a  lodge,  which  he  had 
completed,  and  was  therein  lying  in  wait  to 
shoot  the  first  buck  that  should  cross  the  range 
of  his  gun  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  he  would  have  said — His  Grace  ; 
as  every  good  Churchman  should  do." 

"  This  is  trifling,"  I  replied,  somewhat  heated. 
"  I  shall  begin  to  think  that  you  gentlemen  in  the 
settlements  are  in  the  habit  of  levying  black 
mail  upon  these  freebooters.  I  suppose  they 
sometimes  bring  you  down  a  fat  buck  ?  " 


90  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

"  Never  a  bit  too  fat,  you  may  be  sure." 

I  found  this  to  be  rather  tender  ground  with 
the  squire,  and  therefore  dropped  the  subject. 

Brown  had  by  this  time  mixed  a  refreshing 
drink,  concocted  of  lemons  and  maple  sugar  and 
the  most  delicious  watier  taken  from  the  brook 
near  by,  and  smudges  having  been  lighted,  we 
enjoyed  a  half  hour's  grateful  rest  and  reverie. 

At  a  signal  from  the  squire  we  were  once 
more  upon  the  road,  but  had  not  proceeded  far 
before  a  deer  broke  from  the  covert,  and  darted 
off  into  the  recesses  of  the  wood.  Brown 
wished  he  had  had  his  gun  with  him.  Not  one 
of  us  had  brought  a  weapon  of  any  kind,  and 
I  was  glad  of  it.  Our  mission  was  a  peaceful 
one, — to  spy  out  the  land  for  purposes  of  useful 
industry,  and  not  to  slay ;  and,  indeed,  if  I  had 
possessed  the  means  at  hand,  I  doubt  if  I  should 
have  found  the  heart  to  attempt  the  life  of  one  of 
these  beautiful  creatures.  Nevertheless,  I  yield 
to  no  man  in  my  partiality  for  deer*s  meat,  and 
could  have  feasted  as  heartily  upon  a  flitch  of 
venison  as  any  one  of  my  companions.  This 
game  is  abundant  in  these  forests,  and  as  yet, 
on  account  of  the  almost  unlimited  extent  of  its 
ranges,  in  good  preservation.  On  the  skirts  of 
the  forest  it  is  hunted  without  mercy,  but  so 
much  time  and  labor  are  required  to  reach  its 


LAWLESSNESS    OF    HUNTERS.  91 

inner  sanctuary,  no  very  great  waste  has  taken 
place. 

I  have  referred  to  the  extent  of  its  ranges, 
and  I  suppose  I  shall  speak  within  bounds  when 
I  say  that  it  covers  an  area  of  dense  wood  of 
from  fifty  to  seventy-five  miles.  And  a  deli- 
cious country  it  is  for  these  wild  gazelles,  full 
of  rivers,  lakes,  ponds  and  brooks,  the  ponds 
studded  with  the  precious  yellow  lily,  of  which 
the  deer  is  so  fond  ;  and  when  the  brooks  fail  to 
yield  tlieir  limpid  streams,  the  pitcher-plant  in 
the  deep  meadow  presents  its  cup  of  cold  water 
with  almost  thoughtful  kindness.  Rich  wild 
grasses  cover  the  meadows  and  swamps  every 
where,  and  there  would  seem  to  be  no  draw- 
back to  the  felicity  of  these  innocent  children 
of  Nature  but  the  cruelty  of  man.  The  squire 
informed  me  that  one  hunter,  during  his  time, 
had  taken  fifteen  hundred  deer  from  Harewood 
and  its  adjacent  lands. 

So  far  as  I  could  judge,  this  region,  as  I 
have  already  remarked,  has  not  been  much  fre- 
quented by  sportsmen,  the  fatigue  incident  to 
penetrating  it  very  far  much  more  than  over- 
balancing the  gratification  to  be  realized.  The 
pursuit  of  the  deer  has  been  confined,  there- 
fore, to  a  very  few  persons,  who  have  taken  it 
up  as  a  matter  of  business,  and,  doubtless,  have 
found  profit  in  it. 


92  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

We  had  now  reached  the  tree  which  the 
squire  called  "  the  big  spruce,"  three  quarters 
of  a  mile  from  the  west  line  of  Harewood,  for 
we  were  still  in  Clifton.  He  seemed  to  have  a 
particular  kindness  for  this  old  veteran  of  the 
wood  ;  taking  off  his  hat,  and  advancing  towards 
it  with  the  stately  precision  of  a  militia  in- 
spector, he  surveyed  it  from  root  to  crown. 

"  All  right,  I  presume,"  I  said  ;  "  not  a  but- 
ton missing." 

"  Not  a  button,"  he  replied  ;  "  but  you  must 
remember,  sir,  that  it  is  a  year  since  the  last 
inspection,  and  my  stout  grenadier  has  in  the 
mean  time  been  supplied  with  an  entirely  new 
set." 

"  Splendid  old  fellow,  squire ;  hero  of  an 
hundred  battles,  he  is  yet  unscarred,  and  good 
for  fifty  more." 

"You  set  him  too  high;  I  doubt  if  he  has 
more  than  fifty  inscribed  upon  his  medallion. 
He  wears  his  honors  well,  stoops  to  no  man, 
but  shelters  all." 

"  A  very  king,  of  the  highest  type  of  king- 
ship." 

"  There  I  think  you  are  mistaken  again.  In 
the  kingdom  of  Nature,  absolute  truth  and  in- 
trinsic virtue  govern.  The  pine  possesses  the 
true  quality  of  kingship  among  the  trees  of 


ENTRANCE    TO    HARE  WOOD,  93 

this  forest,  and  his  right  there  is  none  to  dis- 
pute.    He  is  monarch  of  all  he  surveys." 

"  And  our  tall  friend  here  ?  " 

''  Is  simply  a  man-at-arms." 

"Always  at  his  post?" 

"And  always  spruce." 

These  detached  colloquies,  which  were  never 
without  a  little  spice  of  wit  and  drollery,  seemed 
to  lighten  our  packs  and  shorten  the  road. 

Leaving  the  big  spruce  far  behind  us,  we 
began  to  ascend  a  gentle  acclivity  towards  Hare- 
wood.  When  we  had  reached  a  certain  point, 
I  observed  the  squire  to  halt,  and  halting  my- 
self, I  looked  forward  to  discover  his  purpose 
in  arresting  the  line  of  march.  Before  us  was 
a  wide  entrance  to  the  wood,  flanked  on  either 
side  by  two  enormous  hemlocks,  whose  branches 
were  so  interlaced  as  to  form  an  almost  perfect 
semblance  of  a  magnificent  cathedral  arch.  A 
dim  religious  light  pervaded  all  beyond.  The 
imaginative  eye  might  seek  in  vain  for  some 
flaw,  some  discord  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
parts,  by  which  the  illusion  would  become  shat- 
tered and  broken.  The  practical  eye  would 
have  seen  nothing  but  two  trees,  of  nearly 
equal  size,  standing  opposite  to  each  other,  with 
an  open  space  between. 

Affected  by  the  grandeur  of  the  picture  and 


94  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA, 

its  pleasing  associations,  I  had  fallen  behind 
my  companions,  and  stood  rapt  in  contempla- 
tion. Meanwhile  the  sqnire  had  planted  his 
back,  or  rather  his  knapsack,  against  the  side 
of  one  of  the  trees,  and  beckoning  me  for- 
ward, removed  his  hat,  and  with  a  very  stately 
obeisance,  addressed  me  as  follows  :  — 

''  Sir,  I  have  had  the  honor  and  happiness  to 
lead  you  thus  far  into  the  recesses  of  the  forest. 
You  now  stand  upon  your  own  territory,  and 
my  function  is  at  an  end.  It  is  henceforward 
yours  to  command,  and  mine  to  obey." 

Without  ever  having  possessed  much  facility 
for  extempore  speaking,  I  felt  some  hesitation 
about  attempting  a  formal  reply :  but  as  the 
squire,  I  observed,  had  not  replaced  his  hat, 
and  remained  in  an  attitude  of  expectation,  I 
uncovered  myself,  and  slapping  my  face  once 
or  twice  to  clear  away  skirmishers,  responded 
thus :  — 

"  Sir,  I  appreciate  the  skill  and  fidelity  with 
which  you  have  led  us  into  this  Arcadia.  I  ac- 
cept, with  regret,  the  declination  of  your  fur- 
ther formal  services,  and  I  renew  to  you. the 
assurances  of  my  distinguished  consideration." 

This,  as  must  appear  to  the  reader,  was  an 
entirely  impromptu  affair,  and  unanticipated  by 
me,  as  otherwise,  with  some  little  preparation. 


UNEXPECTED   FESTIVITIES.  95 

I  might  have  acquitted  myself  better.  In  fact, 
I  blamed  the  squire  very  much,  afterwards,  for 
not  giving  me  an  opportunity  to  arrange  my 
thoughts.  Moreover,  the  formality  of  these 
addresses,  equally  unexpected  by  my  fellow- 
voyagers,  with  all  the  attendant  circumstances, 
seemed  to  impress  them  with  the  idea  that 
they  were  pre-arranged,  and  that  some  festivity 
would  naturally  follow,  which  I  think  the  squire 
had  not  contemplated,  inasmuch  as  the  sun  was 
getting  low,  and  we  had  yet  between  two  and 
three  miles  to  travel  before  reaching  camp. 

Brown  had  commenced  unloading  himself  at 
once,  on  the  conclusion  of  these  ceremonies, 
and  had  wandered  off  in  search  of  a  brook, 
and  the  other  gentlemen  disposed  themselves  in 
various  horizontal  positions.  As  soon  as  Brown 
returned,  the  feast  was  set  in  order,  and  the  bill 
of  fare  was,  substantially,  this :  being  without 
pepper,  of  course  there  was  no  soup  ;  roast^  — 
cold  fried  pork  ;  entrees,  —  hard  boiled  eggs  ; 
pastry,  —  crackers  and  cheese  ;  sweetmeats,  — 
maple  sugar  ;  liquors,  —  lemonade. 

The  cloth  having  been  removed,  the  squire 
proposed,  as  the  first  regular  toast,  — 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States." 

As  there  happened  to  be  nobody  in  our  party 
holding  an  office  under  the  general  government, 


96  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA. 

which  was  surprising,  considering  that  there 
were  six  of  us,  the  toast  was  responded  to  with 
three  cheers.     I  then  proposed,  — 

"  The  Union,  with  all  the  honors  ;  —  and  con- 
fusion to  traitors." 

Brown  signified  his  intention  to  propose  "  The 
Great  Mogul,"  but  the  Squire  frowned  upon 
him  so  severely  that  he  repented  of  it. 

The  sun  refusing  to  stand  still,  we  made  all 
haste  to  reach  Rock  Shanty  before  nightfall, 
and  were  safely  landed  there  at  seven  o'clock. 


ROCK  SHANTY.  97 


CHAPTER   IX. 

First  Night  in  Camp.-^Harewood  Lodge. —  Romance  of  the 
Place.  —  Aspect  of  Nature.  —  My  Companions  an  Odd 
Mixture.  —  Camp  Fire  lighted.  —  Attempt  to  Sleep. — 
An  Alarm.  —  An  Unseasonable  Controversy. 

ROCK  Shanty,  so  named  from  a  large  bowl- 
der of  gneiss  rock,  which  the  geologists 
would  probably  inform  us  had  been,  at  some 
remote  period,  dropped  here  by  an  iceberg, 
or  dissipated  glacier — not  glazier — appeared, 
when  found,  to  be  about  the  kind  of  thing  we 
had  anticipated. 

Mr.  Bromaghin,  the  architect,  had  not  devi- 
ated in  the  least  from  his  peculiar  style,  but  had 
worked  on  a  somewhat  larger  scale.  The  house 
was,  therefore,  not  only  more  imposing  than  the 
one  we  had  left  behind  us,  but  possessed  the 
additional  merit  of  being  spacious. 

A  man  of  reasonable  height  could  stand  erect 
in  it,  and  six  men  of  average  size  could  lie  com- 
fortably upon  the  floor  without  overlapping  or 
dovetailing. 

I  said  the  shanty  appeared  as  described,  when 
found,  but  the  great  difficulty  was  to  find  it, — a 
difficulty  that  a  good  deal  perplexed  the  squire 
7 


98  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA. 

on  our  first  approach  to  it,  and  not  a  little 
daunted  two  of  our  companions  at  a  subsequent 
period,  as  I  shall  narrate  hereafter. 

"  The  rock  is  a  certain  indication,"  said  the 
squire. 

^'A  certain  indication  of  what?"  I  asked. 

"That  we  shall  find  the  shanty  within  eighty- 
rods  of  it." 

"If  that  be  so,"  I  replied,  "measure  out 
your  eighty  rods  then  in  any  direction,  and  let 
us  travel  round  the  circle  until  we  strike  it." 

This  suggestion  touched  him  a  little,  as  he 
knew  that  we  were  all  much  exhausted  by 
our  long  tramp,  and  relied  upon  his  familiar 
acquaintance  with  the  locality  ;  so,  without  fur- 
ther remark  down  he  sprang  into  a  tangled  hol- 
low, to  reappear  on  the  other  side  for  a  moment, 
and  then  to  disappear  again  in  the  thick  wood 
beyond.  But  a  few  minutes  elapsed  before  we 
heard  his  voice  in  the  distance,  and  following 
the  sound  in  the  direction  which  he  had  taken, 
we  soon  came  to  a  little  dell,  cleared  of  trees,  in 
the  bottom  of  which  stood  the  hostelry  of  Hare- 
wood  Park.  I  would  have  been  better  pleased 
to  have  seen  the  smoke  curling  from  its  roof, 
and  to  have  met  some  fat  Boniface,  redolent  of 
venison  steak,  greeting  us  with  a  welcome  smile, 
but  this  would  have  rendered  Brown's  function 


ROMANCE    OF  HARE  WOOD,  99 

useless,  and  brought  our  voyage  of  adventure 
down  to  the  standard  of  common  life. 

If  this  were  a  romance  instead  of  a  veritable 
narrative,  the  necessity  of  the  drama,  as  well  as 
the  prevalent  taste  of  the  times,  would  require  a 
highly  wrought  description  of  all  the  surround- 
ings of  this  forest  hermitage.  Many  fine  sen- 
tences would  have  to  be  written,  with  effective 
warmth  and  color,  to  describe  objects  that  I  must 
content  myself  with  gathering  up  in  a  few  lines. 

Nay,  more,  the  imaginative  reader  would  be 
by  no  means  satisfied,  unless  its  timbered  walls 
were  made  the  theatre  of  some  startling  tragedy, 
or  at  least  the  chosen  abode  of  some  recluse, 
whom  one  of  the  world's  fair  but  false  ones  had 
poisoned  with  her  sting,  and  flung  out  into  these 
uninhabited  woods,  to  feed  on  silence,  or  what- 
ever else  might  serve  to  allay  the  fever  of 
disappointed  hopes.  The  gratification  of  being 
able  to  mix  in,  with  the  commonplace  incidents 
of  this  true  story,  any  thing  of  the  kind  men- 
tioned, is,  perhaps,  unhappily  denied  me.  But  yet 
the  place,  the  time,  and  the  different  characters 
of  the  company  thus  strangely  thrown  together, 
were  not  wanting  in  a  certain  romantic  interest. 
The  scene  was  wild,  but  devoid  of  any  thing 
harsh  or  forbidding  in  its  wildness. 

Here    Nature,  in  dishabille,  with   locks    un- 


100  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

kempt  and  loosened  zone,  reclined  at  ease  in 
her  most  secret  chamber,  beyond  the  possible 
reach  of  intrusion,  and  neither  thinking  of,  or 
caring  for  the  critical  philosophy  of  the  outside 
world  ;  —  an  emerald-crowned  Cleopatra,  rev- 
elling, somewhat  coarsely,  in  the  midst  of  her 
great  vassals,  and  by  the  greater  strength  of  her 
head  putting  many  of  them  under  the  table, 
where  they  lay  in  all  stages  of  surfeit,  and 
lapsing  into  a  great  sleep. 

This  is  perhaps  rather  stilted,  but  it  shall  go 
for  what  it  is  worth.  There  is,  at  least,  some 
color  of  truth  in  these  fancies,  and  if  the  reader 
had  viewed  with  me,  on  that  evening,  this 
woodland  recess,  I  can  scarcely  doubt  that  his 
imagination  would  have  framed  similar  pictures. 
To  descend  to  minute  particulars.  The  lodge 
stood  near  the  centre  of  the  hollow,  from  which 
the  ground  rose  gradually,  and  was  encircled  by 
a  belt  of  stately  trees  at  ten  or  fifteen  rods  dis- 
tance on  either  side. 

On  one  side,  the  land  trended  down  to  a 
little  brook  of  insignificant  dimensions,  fed  by 
some  unfailing  spring  in  the  hill  beyond,  and 
whose  waters  were  sweeter  to  the  taste  than 
the  fabled  stream  of  Castaly,  and  over  all  this, 
a  cloudless  June  sky,  studded  here  and  there 
with  a  few  diamond  points,  spread  its  purple 
arch. 


ODD   COMPANIONS.  101 

As  I  have  already  said,  my  fellow-voyagers 
were  an  odd  mixture,  some  of  them  first  known 
to  each  other  only  within  a  few  days. 

The  squire,  in  some  sort  tenant  of  the  place 
and  a  magistrate,  suave  in  manners,  but  firm  in 
act,  of  good  English  stock.  Brown,  the  cattle- 
driver,  raised  among  the  green  hills  of  Vermont, 
and  a  thorough  Yankee ;  Clark,  derivation 
unknown, —  tall,  gaunt,  and  long-bearded,  a 
counterfeit  presentment  of  the  immortal  John 
—  not  Milton,  or  Dryden  —  but  Brown  ;  Ben- 
nett, from  the  mines  of  Cornwall,  young 
and  athletic,  and  well  posted  in  his  particular 
calling,  but  rough  in  his  dialect ;  Morton, 
staid,  practical,  and  sincere,  descendant  of 
Morton,  of  Puritan  memory ;  and  lastly,  the 
author,  claiming  a  cavalier  for  his  ancestor,  and 
the  wrong  side  at  Naseby  and  Marston  Moor,  as 
part  of  his  inheritance.  Thus  you  will  perceive 
that  an  English  inn  of  two  centuries  ago,  and  the 
inevitable  two  horsemen  of  the  prolific  James, 
were  trivial  circumstances  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  romantic  drama  compared  with  Rock 
Shanty,  on  the  particular  night  of  which  I  am 
writing,  and  the  motley  company  who  pressed 
themselves  upon  its  hospitality.  The  truth  of 
history  obliges  me  to  say  that  that  hospitality 
was  not  stinted. 


102  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

It  gave  us  its  bare  walls,  with  six  feet  of 
mother  earth,  and  kindly  shelter  from  the  dews 
of  night ;  and  if  its  beds  were  not  down  in  one 
sense,  they  were  certainly  down  in  another,  and 
as  low  down  as  one  could  well  get  without  pick 
and  shovel. 

Overcome  by  fatigue,  we  welcomed  its 
homely  walls  with  as  much  satisfaction  as  if 
they  had  been  walls  of  marble,  and  lost  no 
time  in  making  ourselves  perfectly  at  home. 
A  ^  fire  was  lighted  in  the  fireplace  of  the  great 
hall,  which  was  formed  of  three  spruce  logs  for 
a  back  plate,  and  two  shorter  logs  of  the  same 
wood  for  andirons.  This  was  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  dampness  and  mould  which  had 
accumulated  in  the  building  during  the  long 
absence  of  Mr.  Bromaghin,  either  at  his  house 
in  town,  or  some  other  of  his  country-seats. 
The  ruddy  glow  of  the  fire  displayed  to  full 
advantage  its  fine  interior,  together  with  sundry 
conveniences  hitherto  unobserved  in  the  dark- 
ness, quite  important  to  our  comfort,  —  pegs 
for  our  coats  and  hats,  and  a  narrow  shelf  ex- 
tended along  on  one  side  for  the  reception  of  the 
packs.  During  the  time  occupied  in  observing 
and  availing  ourselves  of  these  dispositions. 
Brown  had,  in  front  of  the  shanty,  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  great  fire,  which  was  destined 


CAMP   FIRE   LIGHTED.  103 

not  to  go  out  while  our  visit  lasted,  aud  piling 
high  with  dry  brush  and  such  dead  wood  as  lay 
near  at  hand,  waited  but  for  a  match  to  set  it 
ablaze.  The  match  was  applied,  and  soon  a 
fierce  red  light  filled  the  hollow,  through  which 
the  dark  trees,  sentinelled  about  the  camp,  were 
seen  standing  out  in  bold  relief,  and  magnified 
to  twice  their  ordinary  proportions.  So  much 
accomplished,  this  worthy  began  to  busy  him- 
self with  preparations  for  supper. 

The  contents  of  his  immense  pack  were 
spread  out  upon  the  green  carpet,  the  cooking 
utensils  were  placed  on  one  side,  our  magnifi- 
cent table-service  carefully  handled  and  laid  by 
itself,  to  be  furbished  for  the  occasion,  when  the 
more  solid  provisions,  which  lay  at  the  bottom 
of  this  apparently  bottomless  receptacle,  were 
developed  in  the  order  in  which  they  had  been 
originally  deposited. 

Rashers  of  pork  were,  at  my  request,  cut  as 
thin  as  the  dull  edge  of  the  knife  would  admit 
of,  the  hard-boiled  eggs,  by  a  happy  thought  of 
the  squire,  were  also  cut  thin  and  laid  with  the 
slices  of  pork  in  the  pan. 

The  pan  was  placed  upon  the  fire  and  held 
by  Clark,  while  Brown  went  to  the  brook  for 
water  with  which  to  make  tea. 

A  flat  board,  bearing  the  marks  of  previous 


104  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

use,  was  found,  and  placed  across  two  logs  for  a 
table,  and  upon  this  our  supper  was  laid  with 
as  much  regard  to  ceremony  as  circumstances 
permitted. 

The  fried  pork  and  eggs  were  garnished  with 
Boston  crackers,  cheese,  and  maple  sugar,  and 
our  drink  was  brewed  from  the  ambrosial 
leaves  of  the  celestial  land. 

After  supper,  pipes  were  lit,  stories  began  to 
circulate,  jokes  were  tossed  about  from  one  to 
another,  and  the  merry  laugh  went  round,  until, 
admonished  by  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  and  our 
need  of  sleep,  one  after  another  crept  into  the 
shanty,  and  were  soon  disposed  upon  the  floor, 
each  man  thinking  his  own  thoughts,  and  sink- 
ing by  degrees  into  a  state  of  unconsciousness. 

Before  I  had  entirely  lost  myself,  a  startling 
sound  was  heard  on  the  roof  of  the  shanty  — 
some  animal,  whether  a  bear,  fox,  or  wood- 
chuck,  was  a  mooted  question  among  my  com- 
panions, upon  which  they  divided  pretty  equally  ; 
there  being  two  for  the  bear,  two  for  the  fox, 
and  two  for  the  woodchuck.  I  stuck  firmly  to 
the  woodchuck,  while  the  squire,  balancing  for 
some  time  between  the  fox  and  the  latter,  finally 
went  over  to  the  fox. 

In  reality  I  cared  not  which  or  what  it  might 
be,  except  so  far  as  it  might  be  the  means  of 
breaking  up  our  night. 


AN  ALARM.  105 

Bennett  and  Clark  declared  they  would  no 
longer  remain  in  the  shanty,  and,  suiting  the 
action  to  the  word,  withdrew  to  the  fire. 

What  a  ridiculous  business  this  is,  I  said  to 
myself,  that  the  repose  of  half  a  dozen  grown 
men  should  be  disturbed  by  so  trifling  a  matter  ! 

Comfortably  couched  upon  the  fragrant 
broom,  and  covered  with  such  shawls  and  coats 
as  were  at  hand,  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  in 
the  way  of  a  good  night's  sleep.  But,  alas,  for 
human  expectations,  and  especially  the  expecta- 
tion of  slumber,  after  having  been  shaken  by  a 
nightmare  ! 

The  two  men  were  certainly  scared  by  the 
mere  suspicion  of  a  bear  or  a  fox,- but,  without 
myself,  being  disturbed  by  any  sensation  of  fear, 
the  occurrence  left  upon  me  a  fit  of  wakefulness 
which  I  found  it  hard  to  dispel.  I  was,  how- 
ever, again  gradually  losing  myself,  when  to  my 
great  dismay,  the  squire,  who  had  been  lately 
reading  a  speculative  book  on  the  ''  Pre- Adam- 
ite Man,"  commenced  a  discussion  on  the  Scrip- 
ture history  of  creation.  I  was  sorry  he  went 
so  far  back,  —  and  happening,  in  the  course  of  the 
conversation,  to  express  an  opinion  not  exactly 
orthodox,  whether  from  conviction  or  to  elicit 
debate  I  could  not  say,  Morton  felt  called  upon 
to  controvert  it  and  set  him  right.     Both  parties 


106  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

warmed  up  to  the  work,  and  after  ranging  over 
a  wide  field  of  theological  topics,  finally  settled 
down  upon  the  doctrine  of  Election.  All  the 
labyrinths  of  that  mysterious  dogma  were  ex- 
plored, and  every  argument  of  the  scholiasts 
brought  into  use,  until  the  squire,  beginning  to 
show  some  signs  of  weakness,  his  language  be- 
came grildually  less  connected,  and  at  last  ceased 
altogether. 

On  the  outside  of  the  shanty  Bennett  and 
Clark,  from  whom  all  sense  of  drowsiness  had 
departed,  sat  beside  the  crackling  fire  smoking 
their  pipes  and  filling  each  other's  ears  with 
marvellous  stories.  The  former  had  from  early 
youth  worked  in  a  Cornish  mine,  and  was  de- 
scribing the  descent  into  the  darkness  of  the  pit, 
hundreds  of  fathoms  beneath  the  surface  —  down, 
down,  deeper  and  darker,  —  and  his  broken  and 
half  distinguishable  words  formed  the  last  feeble 
link  between  my  conscious  life  and  the  vacancjy 
of  sleep. 


UP  BEFORE   SUNRISE.  107 


CHAPTER  X 

Up  before  Sunrise.  —  Description  of  Harewood.  —  Set  out 
for  the  Lake.  —  The  Great  Windfall.  —  The  Squire  gets 
raspish. —  Two  fine  Views.  —  Old  Indian  Fishing  Ground. 
—  Cranberry  Lake. —  Source  of  the  Oswegatchie  River. — 
Lunch.  — Return. 

THE  reader  having  in  the  last  chapter  been 
made  acquainted  with  Harewood  Lodge, 
may  naturally  be  curious  to  know  something 
of  Harewood  Park,  the  outlying  estate  of  that 
magnificent  squatter  sovereign,  Mr.  Bromaghin, 
and  I  shall  proceed  to  gratify  him.  This  I  can 
more  conveniently  do  now  than  hereafter,  from 
the  fact,  that  by  arrangement  over  night  we 
were  to  be  aroused  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing for  a  tramp  to  the  windfall ^  the  Oswegat- 
chie  lliver,  and  Cranberry  Lake,  all  of  which 
lie  either  within,  or  contiguous  to  the  bounds  of 
this  gentleman's  property.  We  were  so  aroused, 
and  I  was  rejoiced  to  find  that  my  boots  had 
been  well  greased  by  the  thoughtful  Brown, 
with  the  remains  of  last  night's  supper  I  pre- 
sumed, and  stood  on  the  outside  of  the  shanty 
waiting  my  pleasure. 


108  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

Our  breakfast  was  but  a  repetition  of  last 
night's  meal,  and  no  ingenuity  on  the  part  of 
the  cook  availed  any  thing  to  change  or  modify 
the  standing  dish. 

Before  retiring  for  the  night  I  had  ordered 
beefsteak  and  truffles  for  our  matutinal  feast, 
and  Brown  had  replied  with  such  an  emphatic, 
gratified  assent,  as  to  have  convinced  the  least 
credulous  of  mankind,  if  the  contrary  fact  had 
not  been  known,  that  these  articles  were  in  the 
larder,  and  there  would  be  no  occasion  for 
any  resort  to  the  market  to  obtain  them.  Under 
this  illusion,  happily  conceived,  and  well  sus- 
tained by  the  piquant  style  in  Avhich  the  dishes 
were  served,  breakfast  was  despatched. 

At  five  o'clock,  long  before  sunrise,  each  man 
was  booted,  girded,  and  hooded  for  the  day's 
march. 

Brown  was  to  be  left  behind  as  post  guard. 

But,  before  setting  out,  I  must  keep  my 
promise  with  the  reader,  and  describe  Hare- 
wood. 

I  will  be  so  far  literal  in  my  description  of 
this  delightful  locality,  as  to  say,  that  the  town 
is  nine  miles  long  and  five  or  six  miles  wide, 
and  contains  some  thirty  thousand  acres.  It 
was  originally  sold  by  the  State  of  New  York, 
under  patent,  to  one  Macomb,  somewhere  about 


DESCRIPTION  OF  HAREWOOD.  109 

the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  is 
known  and  described  as  part  of  "  Macomb's 
great  purchase." 

The  extent  of  this  purchase  will  be  appreci- 
ated, when  it  is  stated  that  it  embraced  upwards 
of  two  millions  of  acres  of  territory,  in  which  no 
white  man  had  ever  struck  an  axe,  numerous 
lakes,  and  almost  entire  rivers,  from  their  sources 
in  the  mountains  to  their  mouths  in  the  St.  Law- 
rence,—  a  territory  large  enough  to  make  two  or 
three  German  principalities,  where  a  quarter  of 
a  million  of  people  might  not  only  subsist,  but 
grow  rich  on  the  mere  products  of  the  soil.  What 
I  shall  say  of  Hare  wood,  may  as  truthfully  apply 
to  many  other  parts  of  this  wide  domain,  all  of 
which,  so  far  as  my  observation  extended,  has 
been  wonderfully  gifted  by  Nature,  except,  per- 
haps, in  the  greater  picturesqueness  of  scenery 
peculiar  to  Hare  wood,  furnished  by  the  lake 
upon  its  southern  border,  the  Oswegatchie  River 
debouching  from  it,  and  coursing  its  western 
line,  and  the  Grass  River,  which,  running  from 
east  to  west,  divides  its  northern  half.  These 
two  rivers  are  scarcely  more  than  three  miles 
apart,  both  of  them  are  broken  at  intervals  by 
rapids,  and  present  numerous  sites  for  water- 
power.  I  am  fully  conscious  that  this  is  a  very 
prosaic  statement,  and  that  I  shall  be  considered 


110  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

a  most  unreasonable  mortal  if  I  expect  to  invest 
Hare  wood  with  any  charm  of  romance  or 
dream  of  poetry  by  these  practical  details.  I 
have  drawn  but  the  hard  and  rough  outlines  of 
the  picture,  the  filling  up  must  be  left  to  such 
suggestions  as  may  occur  in  the  further  prog- 
ress of  our  ramble,  through  which  I  hope  to 
keep  myself  in  sympathy  with  the  reader,  but 
if  I  fail  in  raising  his  imagination,  or  touching 
his  heart  by  the  inspiration  of  the  beautiful  in 
nature,  vrhich  affected  me  on  beholding  these 
scenes,  I  can  only  say  to  him,  with  the  min- 
strel, substituting  Hare  wood  for  Melrose,  and 
leaving  out  the  moonlight,  thus  placing  him  at 
perfect  liberty  to  choose  his  own  time. 

"  If  thou  wouldst  view  fair  Harewood  aright, 
Go  visit  it " 

and  see  for  yourself* 

The  sun  was  just  gilding  the  bolls  of  the  tall 
hemlocks  as  we  wound  our  way,  in  Indian  file, 
through  the  thick  undergrowth  skirting  our 
camp  ground,  into  the  maze  of  the  Lake  George 
road,  and  winding  with  that,  for  some  little 
time^  in  a  southerly  direction,  the  squire,  who 
was  leading,  suddenly  left  it  and  threw  himself 
into  the  wood. 

"Where  now?"  I  cried  out,  holding  fast  to 


SET  OUT   FOR    THE   LAKE.  Ill 

the  old  trail,  which  was  Broadway  itself,  com- 
pared with  the  trackless  jungle,  without  trace  or 
bound,  into  which  we  were  asked  to  plunge 
ourselves. 

''  All  right,"  he  replied,  turning  round  and 
beckoning  me  forward,  "  I  have  been  over  this 
line  with  the  compass  and  marked  the  trees.  It 
is  a  straight  course  to  the  Windfall. 

Resigning  myself  to  his  unerring  skill,  though 
much  against  my  inclinations,  in  view  of  the 
difficulties  which  already  presented  themselves,  I 
permitted  him  to  lead  me  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaugh- 
ter, trusting  to  some  special  interposition  to  avert 
the  final  catastrophe,  whatever  it  might  be. 

The  route  had  the  merit  of  being  straight  — 
straight  as  the  bee  flies,  but  for  pedestrians  a 
few  crooks  would  have  made  it  a  good  deal 
easier.  The  squire's  marks  had  been  made 
two  years  before,  and  although  perfectly  plain 
to  him,  were  the  most  illegible  kind  of  writing 
to  the  unlearned,  —  a  few  discolored  slashes  on 
the  sides  of  the  trees,  with  here  and  there  a  sap- 
ling cut,  and  the  top  bent  over  on  the  outside 
of  the  line,  constituted  the  whole  literature  of 
this  track  to  the  windfall. 

It  led  us  over  hills,  across  streams,  and 
through  swamps,  with  undeviating  directness, 
but  the  greatest  of  all  the  obstructions  that  lay 


112  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA.  ' 

in  our  path  consisted  of  the  great  number  of 
dead  trees  over  which  we  were  obliged  to  pass, 
some  of  enormous  size.  The  distance  to  the 
windfall  was  four  miles,  and  it  seemed  to  me 
that  we  must  have  straddled  five  hundred  logs 
before  reaching  that  point. 

After  much  hard  travel,  and  a  few  falls,  we 
at  length  saw  through  the  gloom  of  the  forest, 
the  opening  of  the  great  windfall,  which,  under 
the  burning  rays  of  a  meridian  sun,  contrasted 
Avith  the  darkness  of  the  woods  upon  its  borders, 
shone  like  a  band  of  gold.  Proceeding  beyond 
the  well-defined  edge  of  the  wood,  and  ascend- 
ing a  little  knoll,  we  were  enabled  to  observe 
and  enjoy  the  beauty  of  the  landscape.  On  our 
right  the  Oswegatchie  River  rolled  darkly  and 
rapidly.  In  front  Cranberry  Hill,  and  the  high- 
lands upon  the  shores  of  the  lake,  which  lay 
two  miles  beyond,  loomed  up  in  the  distance. 
On  our  left  the  broad  savannah  of  the  windfall, 
bare  of  trees,  and  covered  with  wild  grasses, 
rose  and  fell,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
in  graceful  undulations. 

My  curiosity  was  greatly  excited  to  know 
something  more  about  this  windfall  than  I 
had  yet  heard.  "  What  is  the  history  of  this 
windfall?"  I  asked  the  squire. 

'*  It  is  the  effect  of  one  of  the  most  remark- 


THE    GREAT   WINDFALL.  113 

able  tornadoes  that  ever  visited  this  continent,  I 
apprehend,"  he  replied,  '•'  which  occurred  on 
the  20tli  September,  1845,  commencing  in 
Upper  Canada,  and  extending  two  hundred 
miles  in  a  direct  line,  almost  due  east,  to  Lake 
Champlain,  which  it  followed  to  its  head. 

"  At  three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  it  was  at  Antwerp, 
at  five  on  the  Saranac,  at  six  at  Burlington, 
Vermont,  and  at  Shoreham,  Vermont,  in  the 
evening. 

"  On  Saturday,  at  noon  of  that  day,  some  gen- 
tlemen standing  on  the  wharf  at  Coburg,  C.  W., 
happening  to  cast  their  eyes  upon  the  water, 
were  struck  with  the  appearance  of  a  strong 
current  setting  directly  out  from  shore.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  whole  lake  was  going  away 
bodily.  It  presently  returned  to  a  height  two 
feet  higher  than  usual,  and  continued  to  ebb 
and  flow  at  intervals  of  eight  or  ten  minutes 
till  night. 

"  At  Port  Hope,  the  steamer  Princess  Royal 
could  not  get  into  port  at  all.  It  was  at  the 
time  supposed  to  be  the  effect  of  an  earthquake, 
and  perhaps  was. 

"  The  work  of  destruction  began  a  mile  east 
of  Antwerp,  and  in  its  course  through  the  forest 
it  swept  all  before  it,  leaving  a  track  of  desola- 
tion half  a  mile  wide,  in  which  nothing  was  left 
8 


114  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 

standing.  Its  appearance  was  described  by  those 
who  observed  it  at  a  little  distance,  as  awfully 
sublime,  it  being  a  cloud  of  pitchy  blackness, 
from  which  vivid  lightnings  and  deafening  thun- 
der incessantly  proceeded,  and  the  air  was  filled 
to  a  great  height  with  materials  carried  up  from 
the  earth  and  branches  torn  from  the  trees. 
Torrents  of  rain  and  hail  fell  along  the  borders 
of  the  track,  and  much  damage  was  done  by 
lightning.  It  entered  the  county  in  Fowler,  and 
crossed  that  town  and  Edwards,  where  it  en- 
tered the  uninhabited  forest,  and  was  not  fur- 
ther witnessed. 

"  You  can  imagine,  but  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  describe,"  continued  the  squire,  ''  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  mass  of  timber,  as  I  first  saw 
it  not  long  afterwards ;  every  tree,  great  and 
small  within  the  line  of  its  course,  taken  up  by 
the  roots,  and  thrown  together  in  the  most  un- 
utterable confusion,  and  piled  in  some  places  to 
the  height  of  the  tallest  trees  left  standing  upon 
its  margin." 

"You  say  this  occurred  in  1845.  How  is  it 
that  this  great  convulsion  has  left  so  few  marks 
behind  it?  I  should  have  expected  to  see  the 
ground  covered  with  the  dead  trunks  and  roots 
of  the  trees,  but  on  the  contrary  it  is  as  clear 
as  a  prairie,  and  as  blooming  as  a  young  widow 
just  gone  into  colors." 


THE    GREAT   WINDFALL,  115 

"In  course  of  time,"  he  replied,  ''the  timber 
became  dry  ;  lying  across  the  track  of  the  hun- 
ter on  his  journey  to  the  lake  and  the  streams 
beyond,  it  presented  a  most  vexatious  obstruc- 
tion. Doubtless  some  selfish  person  of  this  class, 
reckless  of  the  injury  he  might  do  to  the  prop- 
erty of  another,  on  which  he  was  pursuing  his 
unlicensed  sport,  yielded  to  the  temptation  pre- 
sented by  the  combustible  condition  of  the 
branches,  and  set  it  on  fire.  The  principle 
of  decay  has  done  the  rest.  There  are  a  few 
of  the  old  logs  left.  Here  is  one  of  them,"  said 
he,  kicking  his  foot  against  a  charred  stump, 
"  but  there  are  not  many." 

"  What  is  in  the  way  of  ploughing  up  the 
windfall  and  planting  it,  or  laying  it  down  to 
grass?"  I  asked. 

"  Nothing,"  he  replied,  "  You  may  run  a 
plough  for  miles  along  the  clearing,  even  into 
Jamestown  and  Piercefield,  without  striking  a 
rock,  and  as  to  the  quality  of  the  soil,  dig  in 
it  as  deep  as  you  like,  and  you  will  find  it  a 
series  of  layers  of  decayed  vegetation,  the  waste 
of,  who  knows  how  many,  successions  of  forests 
since  the  beginning  of  creation." 

"  And  perhaps  beyond,"  I  suggested,  by 
way  of  bantering  him  on  his  pre-Aadmite 
notions. 


116  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

"  Vox  et  preterea  nihil,  I  believe  they  say  at 
college,"  he  replied. 

"Fox,  and  pretty  near  a  hill?"  I  said  im- 
pertinently. "  I  can  see  the  hill,  but  where  is 
the  fox?" 

"  That  is  bad,"  he  replied,  "and  altogether 
unworthy  of  you.  Such  a  pun  as  that  might 
do  in  the  settlements,  but  its  perpetration  here 
is  a  desecration  of  these  woods.  A  bad  pun,  do 
you  know,  is  very  much  like  a  bad  egg  in  a 
basket  of  sound  ones." 

"How  so?" 

"  Because  the  bad  egg  is  not  only  bad  in 
itself,  but  reflects  suspicion  upon  all  the  rest. 
Now,  if  this  pun  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  eggs 
in  your  basket,  I  would  recommend  you  to  be 
careful  how  you  handle  them." 

"  Enough,  squire,  I  cry  Peccavi;  and  the  next 
time  you  quote  Latin,  I  will  get  somebody  else 
to  parodize  it," 

Morton  moved  off  towards  the  river,  and  pla- 
cing himself  upon  a  projecting  rock,  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  the  mosquitoes,  amused  himself 
with  the  uncertainties  of  angliag,  which,  after 
all,  is  a  species  of  gambling,  at  least  it  was  so 
in  his  case  to-day,  for  the  encouragement  of  a 
dozen  nibbles  led  only  to  the  tantalization  of 
two  serious  bites,  and  a  final  result  of  no  fish  at 
all. 


INDIAN  FISHING    GROUND,  117 

Bennett  wandered  away  in  search  of  rocks, 
and  soon  returned  with  two  or  three  specimens 
picked  up  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground,  two 
of  copper  and  iron  pyrites,  and  another  of  mag- 
netic iron.  The  squire  and  I  sauntered  down 
to  the  river  towards  the  northern  edge  of  the 
windfall  to  a  point  which  overlooked  the  old 
Indian  fishing  ground. 

The  river,  after  leaving  the  lake  two  miles 
above,  descends  rapidly  over  a  bed  of  small 
stones,  nowhere  in  its  course  broken  by  any 
considerable  fall,  until  it  reaches  the  fishing- 
ground,  where  it  becomes  smooth  and  unruffled 
in  a  pool  of  still  water.  This  was  the  resort  of 
the  Oswegatchie  Indians,  probably,  in  the  old 
aboriginal  days,  for  fish.  The  dark  and  still 
water,  hidden  under  the  mantling  tops  of  the 
trees,  the  broad  course  of  the  river  above  win- 
nowing its  way  down  through  the  gay  sunlight, 
the  wide  and  far-reaching  open  land  of  the  wind- 
fall hedged  in  on  either  side  by  the  sharp  lines 
of  the  forest,  and  the  rounded  green  tuft  of 
Cranberry  Hill  in  the  distance,  viewed  from 
another  standpoint,  and  under  a  different  light 
from  the  one  just  described,  made  up  as  fine  a 
picture  of  American  landscape,  in  a  state  of 
nature,  as  one  might  wish  to  see. 

Keeping  the  bank  of  the  river,  we  now  moved 


118  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

upward  in  the  direction  of  the  lake.  A  splendid 
pine  grove  of  twenty  or  thirty  acres,  on  the  side 
of  a  hill  that  sloped  down  to  the  stream,  de- 
tained us  for  some  time  under  its  grateful  shade. 
A  little  further  on,  the  squire  led  us  to  a  perfect 
gem  of  a  pond,  oval  shaped,  and  beautiful  as  a 
mirror  of  silver,  set  in  a  framework  of  emerald, 
festooned  with  lilies.  Returning  from  the  pond 
to  the  river  bed,  we  pushed  forward,  and  soon 
had  the  gratification  of  beholding  the  lake  spread 
out  before  us.  We  stood  for  a  moment  on  the 
point  of  land  where  its  crystal  waters,  transpa- 
rently calm,  and  hitherto  un vexed,  were  about 
to  plunge  themselves  into  the  tumult  of  river 
and  ocean  life  forever,  never  to  revisit  the 
scenes  of  early  pastime  in  the  sheltered  nooks  of 
their  highland  home. 

"  Roll  on  bravely,  bright  waters,  glad  and 
strong  in  your  innocency,  as  yet  hopeful  and  un- 
^lurmuring,  but  soon  to  be  dashed  against  the 
sharp  edges  of  many  trials,  win  your  way  to  the 
great  river  of  the  north,  mingle  your  sparkling 
currents  with  its  mighty  tide,  and  sweep  on 
together  into  the  infinity  of  ocean,  singing  this 
song,  arranged  for  you  by  one  of  the  sweetest  of 
songsters  "  :  *  — 

*  Rev.  Charles  Kingsley. 


CRANBERRY  LAKE,  119 

"  Clear  and  cool,  clear  and  cool, 
By  laughing  shallow,  and  dreaming  pool ; 

Cool  and  clear,  cool  and  clear, 
By  shining  shingle  and  foaming  weir  ; 
Under  the  crag  where  the  ouzel  sings. 
And  the  ivied  wall  where  the  church-hell  rings, 
Undefiled  for  the  undefiled  ; 
Play  by  me,  bathe  in  me,  mother  and  child. 

"Dank  and  foul,  dank  and  foul, 
By  the  smoky  town  in  its  murky  cowl ; 

Foul  and  dank,  foul  and  dank. 
By  wharf  and  sewer  and  slimy  bank ; 
Darker  and  darker  the  further  I  go, 
Baser  and  baser  the  richer  I  grow  ; 

Who  dare  sport  with  the  sin  defiled  ? 
Shrink  from  me,  turn  from  me,  mother  and  child. 

"  Strong  and  free,  strong  and  free. 
The  floodgates  are  open,  away  to  the  sea  ; 

Free  and  strong,  free  and  strong. 
Cleansing  my  streams  as  I  hurry  along 
To  the  golden  sands  and  the  leaping  bar, 
And  the  taintless  tide  that  awaits  me  afar. 
As  I  lose  myself  in  the  infinite  main. 
Like  a  soul  that  has  sinned  and  is  pardoned  again. 
Undefiled  for  the  undefiled, 
Play  by  me,  bathe  in  me,  mother  and  child." 

Cranberry  Lake  is  the  natural  reservoir  of 
the  Oswegatchie  River,  receiving  and  holding 
the  waters  of  many  small  streams,  of  which 
Oswegatchie  Inlet  is  the  principal.  The  river 
flows  directly  out  of  the  lake  without  parade  or 
circumlocution,  in  the  most  quiet  and  natural 


120  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

manner  possible.  I  have  never  seen,  and  can- 
not conceive  of  a  more  beautiful  system  than 
that  which  Nature  has  instituted  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  these  waters,  and  could  not  but  express 
to  the  squire  my  great  surprise  that  it  had  not 
attracted  more  general  notice. 

It  was  now  high  noon,  and  though  fascinated 
to  an  extraordinary  degree  by  the  many  objects 
of  interest  which  surrounded  us,  it  brought  with 
it  a  reminder  that  we  had  yet  to  see  more  ol 
the  lake  before  retracing  our  steps  to  our  camp. 
Leaving,  then,  the  outlet  behind  us,  we  followed 
the  sandy  margin  of  the  lake  to  the  farthest 
point  which  our  spare  time  would  admit  of. 
Here  we  formed  a  temporary  camp,  lit  the  in- 
evitable smudge,  filled  our  cans  from  a  clear 
brook  near  by,  emptied  our  haversacks  of  such 
ibod  as  we  had  brought  with  us,  despatched  it 
])riefly,  smoked  our  pipes,  and  then  lay  down 
imder  the  spreading  branches  of  a  venerable 
pine  for  a  short  siesta.  An  hour's  sleep  re- 
I'reshed  us  all  mightily,  but  was  attended  with 
f  ome  little  discomfort  to  myself.  I  lay  on  my 
back,  and  on  getting  up  felt  a  sharp  rheumatic 
twinge  in  my  right  shoulder,  which  I  was  in- 
clined to  attribute  to  the  strain  of  climbing  over 
so  many  trees  on  our  way  up.  But  the  squire 
disputed  the  text. 


LAKE   SCENERY.  121 

"  No,  sir,"  he  said,  "  you  should  have  lain 
upon  your  stomach ,^s  I  did  ;  then  you  would 
have  presented  that  part  of  the  body  w^hich  eon- 
tains  the  most  vital  heat  to  the  dampness  of  the 
ground.  So  you  see,  that  is  one  of  the  things 
you  have  to  learn  before  you  can  become  a 
thorough  woodsman." 

"  Thank  you,"  I  replied,  "  I  have  always  had 
to  buy  my  experience  dear,  and  sell  it  cheap." 

Looking  out  upon  the  lake  from  where  we 
sat,  and  recalling  some  of  Scott's  line  descrip- 
tions of  lake  scenery  in  the  highlands  of  Scot- 
land, repeating  here  and  there  a  favorite  stanza, 
I  could  find  nothing  that  seemed  to  meet  so  well 
the  spirit  of  the  scene,  the  unbroken  stillness  of 
the  surrounding  woods,  the  bright  placidity  of 
the  lake,  and  the  clear  blue  sky  arching  over  it, 
as  those  fine  lines  of  Percival's  to  the  beautiful 
Seneca.  There  was  but  one  thing  wanting  in 
the  picture,  and  that  was  the  wild  swan,  which, 
perhaps,  might  have  been  supplied  higher  up  by 
a  loon,  or  a  wild  goose. 

"  On  thy  fair  bosom,  silver  lake, 

The  wild  sAvan  spreads  his  snowy  sail, 
And  round  his  breast  the  ripples  break, 
As  down  he  bears  before  the  gale. 

**  How  sweet  at  set  of  sun  to  view 

This  golden  mirror  spreading  wide, 


122  THE   FORtlST  ARCADIA. 

And  see  the  mist  of  mantling  blue, 

Float  round  the  distant  mountain  side  ! 

V 

'*  On  thy  fair  bosom,  silver  lake, 
O,  I  could  ever  sweep  the  oar, 
When  early  birds  at  morning  wake, 
And  evening  tells  us  toil  is  o'er." 

Before  I  had  poured  the  whole  of  this  rhap- 
sody into  the  delighted  ears  of  the  Naiads  of 
the  lake,  the  forms  of  my  companions  were  dis- 
appearing one  after  another  in  the  thick  wood 
behind,  on  their  return  to  camp.  I  had  no 
choice  left  but  to  tear  myself  away  from  the 
fascination  of  the  scene,  before  it  was  too  late 
for  me  to  follow  their  trail.  Fortunately  for 
our  wearied  limbs,  we  found  a  good  Indian 
path  until  we  struck  the  Lake  George  labyrinth, 
and  following  that,  with  heavy  steps,  until  dusk, 
arrived  safely  in  camp. 


MORTON  AJ^D   BROWN.  123 


CHAPTER   XL 

Morton  and  Brown  go  out  to  shear,  and  come  home 
shorn.  —  Lost  in  the  Woods.  —  The  Squire's  Experi- 
ence, —  an  Incident  that  happened  to  his  Father. 

TO-DAY,  in  the  hope  of  diversifying  our 
diet,  which  had  been  confined  to  salt  pork 
as  the  staple,  Morton  made  early  arrangements 
for  an  excursion  to  the  Grass  River,  where  the 
squire  confidently  assured  him  he  would  be 
able  to  take  a  few  trout.  The  river,  which  in 
many  places  is  quite  noisy,  although  at  no 
great  distance  from  our  camp,  was  too  far  off  to 
be  heard.  He  carried  a  pocket  compass  with 
him,  but  unwilling  to  trust  himself  to  the  woods 
without  a  guide.  Brown  volunteered  to  bear 
him  company. 

The  squire  gave  them  the  course  which  they 
were  to  pursue,  and  enjoined  them  to  slash  the 
trees  plainly  as  they  advanced  towards  the 
river,  and  when  they  had  reached  it,  to  estab- 
lish some  prominent  mark  at  the  point  of 
emergence,  so  that,  if  they  should  wander  up 
or  down  the  stream,  they  might  be  able  to 
regain  the  trail  to  the  camp  when  they  should 
have  finished  their  sport.     Flushed  with  antici- 


124  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

pation,  Morton  plunged  into  the  woods,  followed 
closely  by  the  whilom  cattle-driver. 

It  was  a  dull  and  misty  day.  The  woods 
were  saturated  with  moisture.  The  squire, 
with  the  remainder  of  our  party,  had  departed 
on  a  tour  of  exploration,  of  several  miles, 
beyond  the  river  into  the  north  part  of  the 
township.  Fatigued  by  my  tramp  of  the  pre- 
vious day,  I  had  elected  to  remain  in  camp.  I 
was  thus  left  alone,  and  wrapping  myself  in 
my  shawl,  lay  down  before  the  blazing  fire  to 
attempt  to  repair  the  broken  rest  of  the  last 
night,  which  had  been  more  or  less  disturbed 
by  the  restlessness  of  my  companions. 

The  last  sound  I  heard  before  falling  asleep 
was  the  crackling  of  the  underwood,  through 
which,  in  the  distance,  Morton  and  his  man 
Friday  were  working  their  way  to  the  river. 
I  was  awakened  by  hearing  again  the  same 
sound.  How  long  I  had  slept  I  could  not  tell, 
as  my  watch  had  run  down.  The  sun,  how- 
ever, had  penetrated  the  dun  of  the  morning, 
and  I  was  thus  enabled  to  determine  the  time 
of  day.  It  must  have  been  near  two  o'clock. 
I  jumped  up  immediately,  filled  with  uneasi- 
ness on  account  of  the  non-appearance  of  the 
fishermen.  They  had  contemplated  remaining 
out  about  two  hours,  but  several  hours  had  now 
elapsed  since  they  left  camp. 


LOST  IN    THE    WOODS,  125 

I  listened  intently,  to  catch,  if  possible, 
some  sign  of  their  approach,  but  without  suc- 
cess. The  crackling  sounds  which  had  aroused 
me  had  ceased. 

They  might  have  been  made  by  a  deer,  a 
bear,  or  perhaps  a  panther,  which  are  not 
unfrequent  in  these  woods. 

Thinking  it  possible  that  it  might  have  been 
Morton  or  Brown,  or  both,  wandering  wild 
upon  the  borders  of  the  camp,  without  being 
able  to  find  it,  after  replenishing  the  fire,  I 
ascended  the  little  wooded  ridge  which  shut  in 
the  shanty,  and  raising  my  voice  to  its  highest 
pitch,  repeatedly  invoked  the  name  of  Brown. 
The  echoes  only  answered  from  their  caves. 
The  frightened  partridges,  with  their  young 
broods,  went  whirring  through  the  glen.  The 
woodpecker  struck  up  his  familiar  tattoo,  and 
the  raven  uttered  his  fiendish  croak,  while 
the  fine  and  silver-sweet  pipe  of  the  wheat- 
bird,  unscared,  repeated  its  gay  song  of 
"Sow  your  wheat, — wheat,  wheat,"  but  there 
was  no  human  answer.  Having  too  much 
good  sense  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  myself  in 
search  of  something  already  lost,  I  returned 
to  the  fire,  and,  relighting  my  pipe,  sat  down 
upon  a  log,  to  wait  for  something  to  turn  up. 
I  had  not  taken  more  than  two  or  three  whiffs 


126  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

when  I  heard  again  the  breaking  of  branches, 
now  near  at  hand.  Throwing  down  my  pipe,  I 
sprang  in  the  direction  of  the  sounds,  and  reach- 
ing elevated  ground,  to  my  surprise  and  pleas- 
ure, saw  the  perplexed  Brown  almost  crazy 
with  excitement  and  fear,  thrashing  through 
the  wood  in  a  direction  opposite  to  the  camp, 
evidently  entirely  unconscious  that  he  was 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  it.  Having  him  now 
safe  in  hand,  I  felt  a  wicked  inclination  to  pay 
him  oiF  for  depriving  me  of  my  dinner ;  but 
when  I  appreciated  the  complete  distress  of  the 
old  man  my  heart  relented. 

He  was  quite  near  to  me,  but,  being  myself 
partially  concealed  behind  a  clump  of  bushes, 
could  not  have  seen  me.  I  suddenly  stepped  out 
from  behind  it,  and  said,  in  a  very  dry,  deliber- 
ate tone  of  voice,  — 

"  Why,  Brown,  what  is  the  use  of  making  so 
much  noise  ?  you  appear  to  be  gone  stark  mad, 
man." 

"Good  gracious!  is  that  you?"  he  replied, 
"  if  I  ain't  happy,  then  I  never  was  in  my  life  ! " 
and  on  he  came  towards  me,  a  most  ludicrous 
picture  of  distress,  surrounded  with  a  halo  of 
mosquitoes,  and  reeking  with  perspiration. 

"Where  is  Morton?  "  I  asked. 

"Hasn't  he  come  in  yet?  I  left  him  fishing 


LOST  IN   THE    WOODS.  127 

on  the  rocks  two  hours  ago.  Here  I  have  been 
two  mortal  hours  wandering  about  in  these 
woods.  After  leaving  camp  we  struck  a  little 
brook  which  we  followed  to  the  river,  and  com- 
ing back,  if  you  will  believe  me,  I  have  been  up 
and  down  that  brook,  or  some  other,  at  least 
four  times  in  trying  to  recover  the  lost  trail." 

"Didn't  you  slash  the  trees  as  the  squire 
directed  ?  " 

"Yes,  we  did  any  amount  of  slashing,  but  to 
no  purpose." 

"Brown,  we  must  now  set  about  recovering 
Morton.  He  should  have  been  in  long  since  ; 
we  will  strike  out  in  different  directions,  and 
halloo  at  the  top  of  our  lungs." 

"  Just  wait  a  moment  until  I  can  get  a  mouth- 
ful of  something  to  eat,  for  I  am  completely 
used  up,  and  as  hungry  as  a  bear." 

I  gave  him  time  to  replenish  his  inner  man, 
but  before  he  had  finished,  Morton's  voice  was 
heard  in  the  skirt  of  the  wood.  Restored  now 
to  a  contented  frame  of  mind,  and  it  being  full 
time  for  the  return  of  the  squire's  party.  Brown 
entered  upon  the  preparation  of  dinner.  Mor- 
ton, to  our  chagrin,  had  caught  nothing  ;  he  had 
fished  and  fished  with  more  bites  from  the  flies 
than  any  thing  else,  and  had  given  it  up  in  dis- 
gust.    Seeking  in  vain  to  find  the  place  where 


128  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

he  had  emerged  from  the  wood,  he  had  wan- 
dered up  and  down  the  river,  with  half  a  cracker 
in  his  pocket,  for  a  long  time,  at  one  time  feel- 
ing that  he  would  be  obliged  to  follow  the  course 
of  the  stream  down  to  the  settlements,  a 
following  which,  considering  its  labyrinthine 
windings,  and  his  being  unprovided  with  food, 
would  have  soon  exhausted  his  strength. 

The  squire,  with  his  detachment,  soon  ap- 
peared, footsore,  hungry,  and  weary.  The  pork 
was  particularly  well  fried,  and  after  finishing 
our  meal  there  was  a  glow  of  satisfaction  all 
round,  and  some  little  fun.  The  squire  was 
merciless  towards  Brown,  in  his  way. 

''  He  never  could  follow  a  course,"  he  said, 
''  and  I  am  to  blame  for  sending  him  out  with 
Mr.  Morton  ;  however,  it's  all  over  now,  and 
we'll  say  no  more  about  it. 

''  But,  after  all,"  he  continued,  "it  is  an 
easy  matter  to  get  lost  in  the  woods.  I  have 
had  some  experience  of  that  myself.  These 
two  familiar  facts  are  worth  remembering,  — 
the  moss  always  gathers  on  the  south-west  side 
of  the  trees,  and  the  tops  of  the  trees  lean 
towards  the  north-east.  These  indications,  with- 
out a  compass,  are  of  some  value. 

"  I  remember  that  I  was  out  here  surveying, 
with  a  companion  who  was  a  pretty  good  woods- 


THE   SQUIRE'S  EXPERIENCE.  129 

mau  himself,  a  few  years  since,  when  a  similar 
occurrence  happened  to  us.  We  had  established 
our  camp,  I  think,  at  no  very  great  distance 
from  this  place,  and  had  been  engaged  all  day 
on  a  remote  line.  It  was  quite  late  in  the  sea- 
sou,  too  late  for  such  business  in  the  woods. 
We  had  taken  with  us  in  the  morning  just  suf- 
ficient food  for  a  frugal  lunch  at  noon.  As 
night  drew  on,  after  we  had  finished  our  work, 
we  shouldered  our  packs,  and  set  forward 
towards  the  camp.  We  were  several  miles 
distant  from  it,  and  our  course,  without  the 
help  of  any  beaten  path  or  trail  of  any  kind, 
lay  through  swamps,  over  hills,  and  across 
streams,  in  as  nearly  a  direct  line  as  it  was 
possible  to  determine  it. 

"  We  had  not  accomplished  more  than  half 
the  distance,  according  to  our  calculation, 
before  a  fine  sleety  rain  set  in,  and  it  began 
to  grow  dark. 

"This  had  the  effect  of  quickening  our  move- 
ments. In  an  hour  more  we  had  reached  a 
point  where,  supposing  our  course  to  have  been 
correctly  laid,  we  ought  to  find  our  camp.  We 
anxiously  looked  about  us  for  some  marks  we 
could  recognize  ;  but  the  spot  had  not  a  familiar 
sign  any  where. 

"  I  began  now  to  distrust  myself.  My  com 
9 


130  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

panion  confessed  himself  to  be  entirely  at  loss. 
It  is  singular  how  completely  a  man  breaks 
down  under  such  circumstances.  Half  an  hour 
before,  though  much  exhausted,  we  were  as 
brave  as  lions.  Neither  of  us  would  have  be- 
lieved it  possible  that  we  should,  so  soon  after- 
ward, show  the  white  feather.  But  the  fact  is 
we  had  taken  a  sort  of  panic,  which  the  increas- 
ing darkness  ^vas  not  calculated  to  diminish. 
A  little  reflection,  however,  brought  us  to  our- 
selves, and  we  resolutely  went  to  work  groping 
about  within  a  circuit  of  a  mile,  to  find  the 
much  desired  haven,  but  in  vain.  It  was  a 
hopeless  task  ;  and  being  convinced  of  its  hope- 
lessness, we  commenced  the  preparation  of  such 
shelter  as  we  might,  to  protect  us  from  the  rain. 
This  was  soon  arranged,  and  building  a  fire  we 
dried  our  clothes  as  well  as  we  could,  and  then 
lay  down,  supperless,  to  await  the  return  of 
daylight.  You  can  imagine  our  feelings,  when 
I  tell  you,  that  on  awaking  the  next  morning, 
in  the  pool,  almost,  in  which  we  had  slept,  and 
taking  a  look  about  us,  we  saw  our  dry  and 
comfortable  camp,  not  a  dozen  rods  from  us  !  I 
could  have  swung  a  cat  into  it. 

''  If  you  are  not  already  tired  of  this  kind  of 
thing  I  will  relate  an  occurrence  which  hap- 
pened to  my  father,  on  one  of  his  surveying 
excursions,  in  1798. 


THE   SQUIRE'S  FATHER.  131 

''  You.  must  know  that  he  was  engaged  in  some 
of  the  first  surveys  of  this  wilderness.  It  is  not 
long  since  that  I  was  employed  in  running  the 
lines  of  a  town  which  lies  in  the  south-east 
corner  of  St.  Lawrence  county,  and  when  I 
approached  the  spot  where  E  expected  to  find 
the  post  which  he  had  set  up  to  establish  the 
corner  of  the  county,  a  half  century  before,  as 
a  confirmation  of  the  line  which  I  was  running, 
I  was  greatly  disappointed  in  not  being  able  to 
discover  a  mark  of  any  kind  ;  but  feeling  sure 
that  he  had  carefully  indicated  the  spot,  I 
looked  about  me  upon  the  ground,  and  pre- 
sently found  the  post,  which  had  rotted  off  and 
fallen,  with  his  initials  distinctly  legible  upon  it. 
But  this  is  a  digression.  It  was  while  on  this 
survey,  I  believe,  that  my  father,  having  pro- 
cured a  supply  of  provisions,  about  twenty-five 
miles  below  Tupper's  Lake,  from  a  party 
which  had  been  sent  there  for  the  purpose,  turn- 
ing back  with  his  companions,  pursued  the 
south  line  to  the  extreme  south-western  corner 
of  the  county,  where  they  camped  for  the  night. 
In  the  morning,  it  being  foggy  and  misty,  two 
of  his  men  had  conceived  that  the  course  he 
proposed  to  take,  in  order  to  reach  the  High 
Falls  on  Black  River,  S.  25°  W.,  was  not  in 
the   direction  of  their  homes,  notwithstanding 


132  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

the  evidence  of  the  compass,  and  absolutely 
refused  to  accompany  him.  The  course  they 
proposed  to  take  was  back  on  the  south  line 
towards  Lake  Champlain,  and  no  argument  or 
expostulation  could  convince  them  of  their  error. 
My  father  endeavored  to  remonstrate,  by  show- 
ing that  the  line  was  obscure,  and  would  soon 
be  lost,  and  that  they  must  then  wander  at  ran- 
dom and  perish  in  the  forest,  which  had  then  no 
limits  but  the  St.  Lawrence,  Black,  and  Mo- 
hawk Rivers.  But  finding  entreaties  vain,  he 
divided  his  provisions  equally  between  them, 
and  they  shouldered  their  knapsacks  and  started. 
At  this  trying  moment,  those  that  remained, 
tortured  with  fear  that  the  missing  men  would 
be  lost,  and  that  their  blood  would  be  required 
at  their  hands,  resolved  to  remain  where  they 
were  for  a  short  time,  in  the  hope  that  the  de- 
luded men  would  lose  their  course,  and  call  for 
assistance  before  they  got  beyond  hailing  dis- 
tance, and  so  it  proved  ;  for  their  receding  forms 
had  scarcely  disappeared  in  the  distance  before 
they  became  confused  and  perplexed,  and  a 
faint  shout  in  the  distance  conveyed  back  to 
those  who  remained,  the  welcome  news  that  the 
misguided  men  had  discovered  their  folly  in 
time  to  be  saved. 

My  father,  who  had  been  listening  intently, 


AN    INCIDENT,  133 

to  learn  whether  such  would  not  be  the  result, 
instantly  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  darted  off  in 
the  direction  of  the  cry,  and  at  length  overtook 
them,  to  the  great  relief  of  all  parties. 


134  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 


CHAPTER  XIL 

Iron  Ore  Beds.  —  Indications  of  other  Minerals.  —  No 
Geological  Survey. —  Iron,  King.  —  Professor  Emmons 
on  the  Sanford  Veins.  —  Magnetic  Iron.  —  Its  Value.  — 
Accessibility.  —  General  Deductions. 

HAVING  alluded  to  the  iron  deposits  of 
this  region,  in  which  we  have  pitched  our 
moving  tent,  I  am  not  going  to  let  you  off, 
squire,  without  some  further  discussion  of  their 
merits.  I  should  feel  ashamed  of  myself,  and 
I  know  you  would,  if,  after  our  extended  wan- 
derings over  the  country,  enjoying  the  pic- 
turesqueness  and  beauty  of  the  scenery,  and 
drinking  in  health  and  pleasure  at  every  step, 
we  should  go  home  empty-headed,  taking  noth- 
ing with  us  of  practical  information  or  utility 
to  be  added  to  the  general  stock  of  knowledge. 
I  am  not  disposed  to  magnify  the  importance 
of  this  exploration,  but  this  I  may  say,  without 
fear  of  contradiction  by  you  or  any  body  else, 
that  while  it  is  true  that  you  have,  years  ago,  in 
the  course  of  your  surveys,  observed  and  noted 
the  existence  of  the  numerous  beds  of  iron  which 
pervade  this  forest,  it  has  been  left  to  us  to 


IRON  ORE   BEDS,  135 

establish  the  reality  of  these  deposits,  their 
vast  extent,  the  character  of  the  ore,  and  the 
important  fact  of  their  accessibility  to  the  in- 
dustry of  man.  So  far  as  I  am  informed  no 
geological  examination  has  ever  been  made  of 
this  district,  as,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  sur- 
vey of  Dr.  Emmons  did  not  extend  west  be- 
yond the  Cheney  and  Sanford  veins  in  Essex 
county,  excepting  a  visit  made  by  him  to  Cran- 
berry Lake,  in  a  rain  storm,  in  1839. 

I  have  seen  allusions  to  the  magnetic  de- 
posits of  Oakham,  Harewood,  and  Sherwood, 
which  I  conclude  were  derived  from  informa- 
tion obtained  and  imparted  by  you.  We  have 
thus  had  the  field  pretty  much  to  ourselves. 

I  shall  not  allude  to  the  copper  veins  at 
Copper  Falls,  or  those  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Grass  in  Harewood,  or  the  many  specimens  of 
floating  rock  containing  copper  pyrites  picked 
up  by  us  along  the  route  to  the  lake,  or  the 
very  encouraging  indications  of  silver  lead, 
possibly  the  silver  of  the  Indian  traditions, 
noticed  near  the  sources  of  this  river  in  Oak- 
ham, because  this  would  take  me  from  my 
present  purpose  ;  it  will  be  sufficient  to  say  that 
these  towns  lie  in  the  direct  range  of  the  Can- 
ada copper  veins,  which  have  proved  so  valua- 
ble ;  and  this  fact,  taken  in  connection  with  the 


136  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

very  decided  indications  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, furnish  strong  prima  facie  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  some  of  these  minerals.  But 
iron  is  king,  squire,  since  cotton  has  been  de- 
throned, and  claims  our  undivided  allegiance. 

"  I  would  rather  prefer  gold  at  sixty  per 
cent,  premium,  I  think.  Gold  rules  by  a  sort 
of  divine  right,  and  no  man  disputes  its  su- 
premacy.*' 

Because  it  makes  every  man  its  slave,  and 
that  has  always  been  the  effect  of  the  theory  of 
divine  right  in  kingship,  as  demonstrated  by 
practical  experience,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
iron  is  a  constitutional  monarch,  governing  by 
wise  laws,  respecting  and  securing  individual 
rights,  pampering  none  by  largesses,  but  reward- 
ing all  who  are  disposed  to  labor,  with  the 
cheerful  fruits  of  their  industry.  Iron,  then,  we 
will  consider  as  enthroned,  and  sits,  we  might 
almost  say,  upon  the  everlasting  hills. 

You  will  hardly  require  me  to  demonstrate 
the  value  of  iron  as  an  article  of  domestic 
utility  and  commerce,  or  to  point  you  to  the 
sources  in  Europe  from  whence  we  have  drawn, 
and  still  continue  to  draw,  immense  supplies, 
particularly  Great  Britain,  notwithstanding  that 
we  are  in  possession  of  iron  enough,  of  the 
richest    quality,    to    supply    the    world,  —  for 


PROF.   EMMONS'S   SURVEY.  137 

these  facts  are  well  known  to  you.  It  is  only 
necessary  to  the  matter  in  hand  that  I  should 
refer  to  them.  The  points  I  wish  to  discuss 
with  you  and  determine  as  a  test  of  the  value 
of  our  cursory  examination  of  this  region,  are 
these, — 

First,  the  existence  of  vast  deposits  of  mag- 
netic ore. 

Second,  their  accessibility. 

Third,  their  value  for  the  uses  of  commerce. 

Under  the  first  head,  then,  we  have  to  note 
the  iron  mountain  in  Oakham,  which,  I  believe, 
owes  its  first  discovery  to  your  survey  in  1852, 
and  which  our  subsequent  examination  proves  to 
have  been  correctly  characterized  by  you  as  in- 
exhaustible, and  of  the  best  quality  ;  as  to  which, 
all  possible  conjecture  has  been  set  at  rest  by 
subsequent  visits,  and  by  assays  which  show  a 
high  per  centage  of  pure  metallic  iron. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  the  veins  in 
Harewood,  Sherwood,  Grandshue,  and  Clif- 
ton, which,  though  not  lying  in  mountain  masses, 
display  the  same  features  as  to  extent  and 
resources.  I  do  not  know  how  I  can  better 
convey  an  idea  of  the  fact  of  their  vast  capacity 
than  by  transcribing  a  paragraph  from  Prof. 
Emmons's  examination  of  the  Sanford  vein 
which  lies  distant  from  where  we  are,  in  Hare- 


138  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

wood,  about  thirty  miles  in  a  south-easterly 
direction,  this  vein  forming  the  limit  of  his 
western  exploration. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  ore  of  the 
Sanford  vein  is  of  the  same  character  as  that  of 
the  mines  mentioned  above,  with  allowances  for 
slight  variations,  namely,  the  magnetic  oxide, 
which  is  the  prevailing  type  of  the  ores  of 
Northern  New  York.     He  says  of  that  vein, — 

''  In  order  to  obtain  a  correct  conception  of  the 
amount  of  ore  in  the  Sanford  hill,  we  may  esti- 
mate its  solid  contents  ;  or  if  we  merely  estimate 
the  amount  of  ore  at  the  depth  of  two  feet  from 
the  surface,  we  shall  find  that  it  amounts  to 
six  millions  eight  hundred  and  thirty-two  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  thirty-four  tons,  a  large 
proportion  of  which  may  be  removed,  or  raised 
without  the  use  of  power. 

This  amount  of  ore  will  produce  at  least  three 
million  tons  of  iron  of  the  best  quality,  and  can- 
not be  worth  less  than  one  hundred  to  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  dollars  per  ton  in  market. 

This  you  will  admit,  squire,  to  be  a  fair 
criterion  by  which  to  judge  the  extent  of  the 
veins  which  we  have  examined  in  this  neighbor- 
hood. 

I  now  come  to  the  next  point,  the  accessi- 
bility of  these  mines,  and  I  suppose  you  will 


ACCESSIBILITY.  139 

talk  to  me  about  the  Saratoga  and  Ogdensburg 
Railroad,  which  is  a  chronic  subject  with  you, 
as  the  only  means  of  delivering  these  ores  at 
market,  following,  as  you  say,  on  your  familiar 
acquaintance  with  the  topography  of  the  coun- 
try, that  road  should  do  the  valley  of  the  Grass 
or  Oswegatchie  River  westerly  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence, in  close  proximity  to  these  beds. 

I  proceed  to  foreclose  any  argument  which 
you  may  wish  to  make  on  that  head  at  this 
time,  by  granting  that  the  opening  of  that  road 
from  tide  water  at  Troy  or  Albany  to  river  and 
lake  navigation  at  Ogdensburg,  thus  furnishing 
both  an  eastern  and  western  market,  would  leave 
nothing  more  to  be  desired.  But  let  us  consider 
their  present  accessibility,  and  we  will  take,  as 
our  stand-point,  the  outlet  of  the  Oswegatchie  at 
Cranberry  Lake,  and  it  is  a  good  standpoint, 
both  from  its  centrality  and  the  fact  that  for  two 
miles  below  the  river  affords  all  the  water-power 
that  would  be  required  to  manufacture  the  ores. 

Standing  then  upon  the  shore  of  the  lake 
where  the  river  commences  its  descent,  and 
looking  east,  we  have  the  iron  mountain  in  Oak- 
ham, four  miles  distant,  looming  up  over  the 
surrounding  hills  ;  turning  round  to  the  south,  the 
mines  in  Sherwood,  three  miles  distant,  and  to 
the  north,  the  mines  in  Harewood,  three  to  four 


140  ^   THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

miles  distant.  The  lake,  several  miles  in  length, 
is  bordered  with  timber  suitable  for  charcoal, 
which  may  be  transported  in  summer  across  the 
water,  and  in  winter  over  the  ice. 

Now  let  us  look  westerly  toAvards  the  junction 
of  the  Ogdensburg  and  Rome  Railroad  at  De 
Kalb,  which  we  shall  have  to  strike  in  order  to 
reach  the  lakes  on  one  hand,  or  Troy  and  the 
Hudson  on  the  other,  with  our  ores  and  manu- 
factured iron. 

It  is  ten  miles  from  this  point  where  we  stand 
to  the  Clifton  ore  bed,  on  the  way  down,  twelve 
miles  from  thence  to  Russell,  the  ark  of  your 
habitation,  and  ten  miles  from  Russell  to  De 
Kalb,  in  all  thirty-two  miles  of  carriage  road  to 
be  overcome  before  reaching  rail ;  but  Avhen  we 
have  reached  De  Kalb  we  shall  have  but  nine- 
teen miles  of  railroad  to  navigation  at  Ogdens- 
burg, a  depot  for  the  markets  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  West.  Can  there  be  a  doubt  in  your 
mind,  squire,  that  manufactured  iron,  of  the 
quality  to  be  produced  from  these  primitive 
ores,  can  be  delivered  over  this  road  to  the  rail- 
road ;  thirty  miles  distant,  at  a  large  paying 
profit?     If  you  have  any,  I  have  none. 

Our  next  consideration  is  as  to  the  value  of 
these  ores  ;  and  as  there  is  nothing  like  being 
well  fortified  by  good  authorities,  as  you  must 


MAGNETIC  IRON,  141 

have  learned  in  your  judicial  experience,  I  will 
again  quote  Prof.  Emmons. 

"  I  have  only  to  remark,"  he  says,  "  that 
probably  no  ore  in  this  country  has  produced 
iron  of  a  better  quality  than  that  now  under 
consideration ;  or,  perhaps,  it  would  be  better 
to  say,  as  capable  of  producing  better  iron." 

Without  entering  at  all  on  the  statement 
of  facts  in  proof  of  this  assertion,  I  shall  refer 
the  reader  at  once  to  Prof.  Johnson's  report, 
where  he  will  find  a  statement  of  the  experi- 
ments which  were  instituted  for  the  trial  of 
this  iron. 

When  it  is  considered  that  this  iron  was  not 
manufactured  by  the  most  approved  process, 
but  rather  in  a  rough  and  unscientific  mode,  it 
seems  to  be  clearly  established  that  there  is 
something  very  extraordinary  in  this  ore  to  pro- 
duce the  kind  of  iron  which  is  proved  by  ex- 
periment it  actually  does.  And  who  can  doubt 
but  that  in  scientific  hands  it  will  prove  fully 
equal  to  the  best  Russian  and  Swedish  irons, 
which  have  been  so  long  celebrated  and  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  steel.  Such,  at  any  rate,  I 
conceive  to  be  the  qualities  of  the  iron  that  it 
is  a  matter  of  national  importance  that  the 
operations  in  its  manufacture  should  be  con- 
ducted in   the  best  possible   mode.     There  are 


142  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

some  particular  vises  to  which  it  can  be  applied, 
and  for  which  there  is  nothing  equal  to  it  made 
in  this  country  ;  namely,  where  there  is  much 
wear  or  friction,  and  at  the  same  time  great 
tenacity  required,  as  the  axles  of  locomotive 
engines,  railroad  cars,  or  chain  cables  for  ships 
of  war,  large  spikes,  nails,  &c.  Iron  is  so 
much  used  in  the  present  state  of  society,  and 
so  many  lives  depend  on  its  quality,  that  it  is  a 
subject  of  great  importance  to  secure  for  public 
use  that  quality  of  it  which  shall  not  jeopardize 
life  and  limb  in  the  public  conveyances  on  the 
great  thoroughfares  of  the  nation. 

From  these  premises,  squire,  I  deduce  the 
following  conclusions  :  — 

That  there  exists  in  the  region  examined 
by  us  extensive  deposits  of  magnetic  ores,  in- 
exhaustible in  quantity. 

That  all  of  these  deposits  are  accessible  to 
markets. 

That  the  quality  of  the  iron  is  that  most 
approved  by  science  and  practical  experience. 

That  there  is  an  unlimited  forest  of  wood, 
sufficient  to  supply  iron  works  on  a  large  scale, 
for  a  long  period  of  years,  and  any  amount  of 
water-powec  that  can  be  desired. 

And  here  I  leave  the  subject. 


BEAVER    DAMS.  143 


CHAPTER    XIIL 

Beaver      Dams.  —  Trapping.  —  "Wild     Animals.  —  The 
Yagesho.  —  Credibility  of   Indian  Traditions. 

I  HAD  a  great  desire  to  see  a  beaver  dam  ; 
and  thinking  it  not  improbable  that  one 
might  be  discovered  in  the  course  of  our  wan- 
derings, so  abundant  were  the  evidences  of  their 
former  existence,  I  kept  constantly  on  the  look- 
out, but  only  to  be  disappointed.  In  answer  to 
my  inquiries,  the  squire  gave  me  this  infor- 
mation. 

"  This  country,"  he  said,  "  must  have  been 
full  of  them  in  old  times.  I  have  seen  them 
but  rarely,  and  should  not  know  in  what  direc- 
tion to  take  you  to  find  one.  Many  of  these 
tamarack  swamps,  as  we  call  them,  that  we 
have  passed  through,  and  you  have  found  so 
treacherous  to  your  Boston  boots,  were  formerly 
small  lakes  or  ponds,  formed  by  the  industry  of 
the  beavers,  whose  intelligence  is  beyond  that 
of  all  other  animals,  and  whose  constructive 
talent  is  almost  human.  There  was  a  time, 
and  I  think    it    cannot  be  very  remote,  when 


144  THE   FOREST   ARCADIA. 

they  swarmed  here,  and  had  much  to  do  with 
changing  the  water-courses.  There  is  no  region 
in  the  United  States,  probably,  better  suited  to 
their  peculiar  habits,  as  there  is  none  so  much 
interspersed  with  lakes  and  ponds  as  this.  How 
far  many  of  these  may  be  attributed  to  their 
labors,  it  is  difficult  to  decide  ;  but  the  evidences 
multiply  every  where  that  they  were  once  mas- 
ters, if  not  of  the  shores,  at  least  of  the  lakes 
and  streams." 

"  Do  you  think  the  Indians  were  in  the  habit 
of  trapping  for  them  ?  "  I  asked. 

''  Yes,  before  the  coming  of  tne  whites  into 
the  country,  moderately,  and  for  purposes  of 
clothing,  but  not  enough  to  check  their  multi- 
plication materially.  After  that  time  the  In- 
dian soon  leaFned  the  value  of  their  skins  as  an 
article  of  traffic,  and,  together  with  the  white 
trapper,  began  to  hunt  them  remorselessly. 
The  fire-water,  gilded  toys,  and  red  cloth  of  the 
Europeans  were  too  much  for  the  primitive 
races,  both  of  man  and  beast,  in  this  country. 
I  said  that  many  of  these  swamps  through 
which  we  have  passed  were  their  work.  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  of  it.  When  these  indus- 
trious families  became  extinct,  there  was  no- 
body to  keep  up  the  repairs  ;  the  mounds  were 
gradually  worn   away  by  the  action  of  heavy 


THE   BEAVER.  145 

rains  and  freshets,  and  the  meadows,  in  the 
course  of  time,  left  bare.  I  think  you  can  find 
no  where  stronger  proof  of  the  far-reaching  de- 
sign of  Providence  than  in  the  operations  and 
effects  of  this  comparatively  insignificant  crea- 
ture, so  wonderfully  endowed  by  its  Creator. 
Confined  to  the  northern  and  north  temperate 
latitudes,  it  would  seem  as  if  their  whole  mission 
had  been  for  long  periods  of  time,  by  patient 
industry,  to  prepare  the  soil  for  the  cultivation 
of  civilized  man,  by  checking  the  wash  of  the 
hills,  and  thus  forming  the  numerous  and  ricli 
meadows  that  contribute  so  much  to  human  sus- 
tenance and  comfort,  and  constitute  so  charming 
a  feature  in  our  northern  landscape.  They 
are  gone,  but  have  left  their  memorials  behind 
them,  to  bless  the  latest  race  of  man. 

^'  What  are  they  who  built  the  Pyramids  with 
the  bloody  sweat  of  millions  of  human  beings, 
to  flaunt  their  pride  in  the  eyes  of  all  coming 
time,    compared   with   these    little  unconscious 
workers  who  have  laid  up  a  single  meadow  ?  " 
''  You  are  getting  eloquent,  squire." 
''  I  have  no   eloquence,  sir ;    I  speak  as  I 
think  and  feel.    And  here,  this  fine  country,  pre- 
pared by  these  long  processes  for  the  hand  of 
man,  abandoned  by  its  original  owners,  cleared 
of  its  ferocious  animals,  and  with  nothing  in  it 
10 


146  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

to  fright  or  harm,  but  every  thing  to  nourish, 
comfort,  and  cheer,  the  birds  e^n  vocal  with 
the  promise  of  wheat,  which  they  cannot  sow, 
but  only  sing,  still  waits  for  the  coming  man. 
I  cannot,  at  times,  repress  the  indignation  which 
I  feel  on  account  of  this  neglect." 

"  It  will  come  right  in  time,  squire.  That 
great  highway  of  the  world,  the  valley  of  Cen- 
tral New  York,  rich  in  itself,  through  which 
European  immigration  has  poured  into  the  West 
to  still  richer  fields,  is  at  the  bottom  of  it. 
Your  county  has  thus  far  been  filled  up  by 
sturdy  New  England  stock ;  wait  a  little,  and 
you  will  find  that  these  delicious  pasture  lands 
will  not  go  a  begging.  I  would  rather  have  an 
acre  lot  on  one  of  these  meadows  than  five  acres 
of  the  best  bottom  land  in  Illinois.  Why,  with 
a  railroad  from  the  centre  of  this  region  you 
are  but  twelve  hours  from  the  metropolitan  city. 
Your  fat  ox,  feeding  in  the  morning  on  the  hill 
yonder,  may  be  served  on  the  next  morning  for 
breakfast  at  the  Astor  or  the  Fifth  Avenue  ;  — 
but  we  are  wandering.  Let  us  speak  of  the 
animals,  about  which  I  would  like  to  know 
something  more.  You  said,  a  moment  since, 
that  the  country  was  cleared  of  ferocious  beasts. 
You,  doubtless,  had  forgotten  the  woodchuck 
that  disturbed  us  in  camp  the  other  night." 


WILD   ANIMALS.  147 

"  I  believe  I  told  you  I  thought  it  was  a 
fox." 

"  I  know  you  did ;  but  you  will  remember 
the  doubts  which  I  suggested.  Foxes  I  sup- 
posed rare." 

"  They  are  not  so  plenty  as  they  were,  but 
still  may  be  hunted  with  success.  The  bear 
and  the  panther  are  still  inhabitants,  in  a  se- 
cluded way.  The  wild  deer  roam  at  will ; 
numerous  enough,  notwithstanding  the  persist- 
ent ravages  of  the  hunters.     The  moose " 

"•  Ah,  yes  ;  the  moose.  I  should  like  to  see 
a  moose,  and  perhaps  shoot  one,  if  I  could  bring 
him  down  without  hurting  him.  That's  what 
I  call  fine  game." 

"  You  will  hardly  have  a  chance  to  do  either 
one  or  the  other.  That  beast  is  getting  very 
scarce.  This  wilderness  is  become  too  mucli 
hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  settlements  to  suit 
the  taste  of  that  great  ruminator.  There  is  no 
impenetrable  background  for  him,  as  there  is  in 
the  interior  of  Maine,  where  he  still  flourishes  ; 
and  yet  I  cannot  imagine  a  region  better  suited 
to  his  habits  than  this,  abounding,^ as  it  does, 
in  lakes  aud  rivers,  and  especially  rich  in  the 
flowering  maple  upon  wliich  he  delights  to  feed. 
The  moose,  if  not  already  extinct  in  these 
woods,    will    soon    become    so.      But   there    is 


148  TEE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 

another  animal,  unknown  to  our  day,  that  de- 
serves mention.  The  Indian  traditions  give  an 
accoimt  of  a  strange  and  ferocious  animal  which 
was  said  to  roam  through  this  wilderness  two 
or  three  centuries  ago,  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  finally  conquered  and  extinguished.  The 
yagesho,  as  it  would  be  pronounced  in  English, 
was  an  animal  much  superior  to  the  largest 
bear,  remarkably  long  bodied,  broad  across  the 
shoulders,  but  thin  or  narrow  just  at  its  hind 
legs,  or  where  the  body  terminated.  It  had  a 
large  head,  and  a  most  fearful  look.  Its  legs 
were  short  and  thick.  Its  paws  had  toes,  with 
nails  or  claws,  nearly  as  long  as  an  Indian's 
fingers  spread  wide.  It  was  almost  bare  of 
hair,  except  the  head  and  the  hinder  parts  of 
its  legs,  in  which  places  the  hair  was  very  long. 
For  this  reason  the  Indians  gave  it  the  name 
of  naked  bear.  Several  of  these  animals  had 
been  destroyed  by  the  Indians,  but  the  one  of 
which  this  account  is  given  had  escaped  them, 
and  for  several  years  had,  from  time  to  time, 
destroyed  many  Indians,  particularly  women 
and  children,  when  they  were  out  in  the  woods 
gathering  nuts,  digging  roots,  or  at  work  in  the 
fields. 

''Hunters,    when    overtaken  ,by   these    ani- 
mals, had   no  way  of  escaping,  except   when 


THE    YAGESHO,  149 

a  river  or  lake  was  near  at  hand,  by  plunging 
into  it  and  swimniing  out  or  down  the  stream 
to  a  great  distance.  When  this  was  the  case, 
and  the  beast  was  not  able  to  pursue  farther,  he 
would  set  up  such  a  roar  as  could  be  heard  for 
a  great  distance,  making  every  Indian  hearing 
it  to  tremble.  This  animal  preyed  on  every 
beast  of  the  forest.  It  would  catch  and  kill 
the  largest  bears,  and  devour  them.  While 
bears  were  plenty  the  Indians  had  less  dread  of 
him  ;  but  when  this  was  not  the  case,  it  AVould 
rush  through  the  woods,  searching  for  the  track 
or  scent  of  hunters,  and  follow  them  up.  The 
women  became  at  last  so  much  alarmed  by  his 
ferocity  as  to  be  unwilling  to  venture  out  to 
work,  and  thereupon  the  men  of  the  tribe  as- 
sembled for  the  purpose  of  devising  some  plan 
by  which  he  might  be  destroyed.  At  or  near 
a  lake  which  had  two  outlets,  one  on  the  north- 
erly and  the  other  on  the  southerly  side,  this 
beast  had  its  residence,  of  which  the  Indians 
were  well  informed. 

"  A  resolute  party,  well  provided  with  bows, 
arrows,  and  spears,  made  towards  the  lake. 

"  On  a  high,  perpendicular  rock  they  stationed 
themselves,  climbing  up  by  means  of  Indian 
ladders,  and  then  drawing  these  after  them, 
after  being  well  fixed,  and  having  taken  up  a 


150  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

number  of  stones,  they  began  to  imitate  the 
voices  and  cries  of  the  various  beasts  of  the 
woods,  and  even  that  of  children,  in  order  to 
decoy  him  thither.  Having  spent  some  days 
without  success,  a  detached  party  took  a  stroll 
to  some  distance  from  the  rock.  Before  they 
had  reached  the  rock  again  the  beast  had  got 
their  scent,  and  was  in  full  pursuit,  but  they 
reached  the  rock  before  he  did. 

"When  he  came  to  the  rock  he  was  in  great 
anger,  springing  against  it  with  his  mouth  wide 
open,  and  seizing  upon  it  as  if  he  would  tear  it 
in  pieces.  He  had  several  times  sprung  nearly 
to  the  top  of  the  rock. 

"  During  all  this  time  numbers  of  arrows  and 
stones  were  discharged  at  him,  until,  overcome 
at  last  by  the  innumerable  shafts  of  his  foes,  he 
fell  down  and  expired.  His  head  was  cut  off 
and  carried  to  the  Indian  settlement  on  the 
North  River,  and  there  set  up  on  a  pole  for 
observation  ;  and  the  report  spreading  among 
the  neighboring  tribes,  great  numbers  came  to 
see  it  and  exalt  the  victors." 

''  Do  you  believe  that  story,  squire?"  I  asked. 

"  Yes,"  he  replied  ;  "  I  see  no  reason  to  dis- 
believe it.  It  is  a  veritable  tradition,  trans- 
mitted by  the  Indians  from  one  generation  to 
another,  and  imparted  by  them  to  the  first  set- 


TEE    YAGESHO,  151 

tiers.  The  Indian,  before  he  became  corrupted 
by  contact  with  the  whites,  was  the  most  truth- 
ful of  all  the  human  race.  It  is  remarkable 
how  carefully  they  preserved  their  traditions, 
and  with  what  consistent  accuracy  they  nar- 
rated them  ;  and  besides,  does  not  your  science 
teach  you  that  many  animals,  more  ferocious,  if 
possible,  than  the  one  described,  formerly  ex- 
isted, but  have  since  become  extinct?  I  doubt 
much  if,  two  hundred  years  hence,  the  exist- 
ence of  the  moose,  about  which  we  have  been 
talking,  will  appear  more  credible  than  that  of 
the  yagesho." 


152  THE   FORMST  ARCADIA. 


CHAPTER    XIV, 

Put  the  Squire  to  sleep  on  Mining.  —  Early  History  in 
England.  —  Former  Unpopularity  in  this  Country. — 
Enthusiam  of  the  Old  Spaniards.  —  Development  wisely 
reserved  to  our  Day.  —  Great  Production  of  Metals. — 
Neglect  of  Iron. 

PUT  on  another  log,  will  you,  Brown?" 
"Ay,  ay,  sir!" 

"  I  see  yon  have  filled  your  pipe  again, 
squire,  which  is  an  indication  that  you  mean  to 
spend  a  part  of  the  night  beside  the  fire." 

"  Suppose  I  spin  you  a  thread  on  the  subject 
of  mining,  which  has  occupied  much  of  our 
conversation  during  the  last  day  or  two." 

"  Make  it  as  short  as  you  please,  and  not  too 
tough." 

"  I  mean  to  talk  like  a  book." 

"  That's  discouraging,  for  there  are  but  few 
books  that  talk  well." 

"  Most  people  are  acquainted  with  the  ap- 
pearance and  properties  of  the  various  metals 
in  common  use,  but  there  are  but  few  that  have 
ever  taken  the  trouble  to  inquire  into  their  his- 
tory, or  the  mode  by  which  they  have  been 
obtained. 


MINING.  153 

''  I  do  not  propose  to  take  you  back  to  the 
Babylonish  era,  or  the  temple  of  Solomon,  to 
demonstrate  how  much  more  ext^^^vely  and 
elaborately  used  they  were  in  the  early  periods 
of  the  world,  —  that  would  exhaust  two  or 
three  pipes,  —  but  shall  content  myself  with 
the  chronological  date  of  the  Phoenicians,  that 
remarkable  people  in  whom  the  commercial 
enterprise  of  the  old  world  seems  to  have  been 
most  conspicuous. 

"  As  their  ships  are  known  to  have  sailed 
beyond  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  it  is  probable 
that  the  first  commerce  in  British  metals  com- 
menced with  them.  The  tin  mines  of  Devon- 
shire are  historically  known  to  have  been 
worked  before  the  British  invasion.  A  very 
able  work  on  the  early  history  of  these  mines 
has  been  lately  published  in  England,  full  of 
authentic  data  of  the  most  interesting  kind.  * 

''  The  original  supplies  of  tin  seem  to  have 
been  derived  from  the  Scilly  Islands,  the  an- 
cient Cassiterides,  a  wild  and  romantic  cluster 
of  rocks  about  nine  leagues  from  the  Land's 
End  ;  but  it  was  from  Cornwall  and  Devon 
that  the  chief  supply  of  tin  and  lead  was 
obtained.  Dartmoor,  a  granitic  range  of  hills, 
the  back-bone  of  the  country,  abounds  with  the 
vestiges  of  ancient  tin  mining  in  innumerable 
*  Mr.  G.  Chowen. 


164  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

stream  works,  which  have  lain  deserted  for 
centuries.  The  method  of  mining  practised  by 
the  Danmonii  was  of  the  most  simple  charac- 
ter. Their  mining  utensils  were  formed  of 
wood,  made  from  the  box,  the  oak,  or  the  elm 
tree,  for  iron,  at  that  remote  period,  had  not 
come  into  use.  The  tin  was  obtained  from  the 
sedimentary  deposit,  which  for  ages  had  been 
accumulating  in  the  valleys.  This  metallifer- 
ous stratum  consisted  then,  as  now,  of  a  heter- 
ogeneous mixture  of  peat,  gravel,  the  debris  of 
the  decaying  tors,  and  tin-ore  matter,  which, 
from  time  to  time,  had  been  swept  by  mountain 
torrents  from  the  neighboring  hills,  and  during 
floods  carried  pellmell  into  the  glens  below, 
there  to  be  quietly  deposited,  on  the  subsidence 
of  the  waters.  Thence,  in  those  times  the  tin 
was  probably  obtained  with  as  little  trouble  as 
peat  is  at  present.  The  mines  were  either 
open  cuttings  or  shallow  explorations,  and  the 
ore  procured  by  merely  burrowing  beneath  the 
surface,  —  a  process  now  called  shoding  and 
streaming.  The  metalliferous  gravel  or  tin 
ore  thus  obtained,  being  of  greater  specific 
gravity  than  the  surrounding  matrix,  was 
easily  separated  by  washing,  and,  with  perhaps 
less  trouble  still,  melted  and  cast  into  moulds. 
Tin  fuses  very  readily.     The  metallic  tin,  ac- 


THE   SQUIRE   PUT   TO   SLEEP.  155 

cording  to  Whittaker,  was  then  beaten  into 
squares,  and  some  of  it  formed  into  drinking- 
cups,  pitchers  and  basins.  The  surplus  was 
collected  for  exportation,  and  taken,  in  the  first 
place  it  is  said,  to  the  Isle  of  Wight,  the  mart 
for  .those  whose  traffic  was  in  tin.  Thence  it 
was  conveyed  by  Gallic  traders  to  Marseilles 
and  Narbonne,  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, where  it  was  bought  up  by  factors,  and 
transmitted  overland  to  Central  Asia,  and  even 
to  the  most  remote  provinces  of  India.  In  ex- 
change for  their  tin,  the  ancient  Britons  received 
salt,  earthen-ware,  and  brass,  —  articles  which 
were  highly  esteemed  among  an  uncivilized  peo- 
ple, although  intrinsically  of  less  value  to  their 
possessors. 

According  to  Strabo  and  Tacitus,  gold  and 
silver  were  also  raised  in  this  country,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  so.  Even  at 
the  present  day  gold  is  frequently  found  in  small 
quantities  intermixed  with  tin  ore.  Indeed, 
historians  have  attributed  the  exaggerated  no- 
tions which  the  Romans  had  formed  of  the 
quantity  of  the  more  precious  metals  existing 
in  Britain,  as  the  chief  incentive  to  the  de- 
scent of  that  people  on  the  island ;  although 
there  appears  no  evidence  of  their  having  em- 
ployed themselves  in  mining  after  Britain  be- 
came a  Roman  province. 


156  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

That  the  Saxons  were  equally  negligent  of 
the  mineral  resources  of  the  country,  is  mani- 
fest from  the  circumstance  that  no  mention  is 
made  in  Domesday-book  of  the  mines. 

Had  such  works  been  in  operation,  the  agents 
of  the  Conqueror  would  have  recorded  the  fact. 
In  progress  of  time,  and  after  Britain  was  com- 
pletely subjugated,  the  Normans  are  said  to 
have  engaged  in  mining  with  advantage. 

In  later  times,  it  is  found  that  kings  and  com- 
moners, nobles  and  parsons,  were  severally  pro- 
prietors of  the  mines,  for  there  is  a  fascination 
inherent  in  mining,  which,  to  some  persons,  in 
every  degree,  is  perfectly  irresistible.  Of  these 
adventurers,  some  were  unusually  successful, 
others  were  less  fortunate.  But  they  all  did 
well,  except  the  parsons,  who  do  not  appear  to 
have  improved  their  fortunes. 

After  the  Conquest,  the  earliest  accounts  we 
have  of  mining,  is  in  the  reign  of  Bichard  I., 
when  the  produce  of  the  mines  in  Devonshire 
was  one  of  the  principal  resources  of  the  earl- 
dom of  Cornwall. 

In  the  tenth  year  of  King  Richard's  reign, 
the  earldom  being  then  in  the  crown,  William 
de  Wortham  accounted  to  the  exchequer  for 
the  ferm  and  issues  of  the  tin  mines  of  Devon 
and  Cornwall,  and  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  King 


EARLY  HISTORY  IN  ENGLAND.         157 

John's  reign  the  same  individual  accounted  for 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  marks  for  the  ferm  of 
the  stannaries  in  Cornwall,  and  two  hundred 
for  that  of  Devon  ;  from  which  it  is  evident  that 
the  mines  of  the  latter  county  were  at  that 
time  more  productive  than  those  of  the  former. 
It  appears,  however,  that  the  mines  were  not 
then  so  productive  as  they  soon  afterwards  be- 
came, for  the  immense  wealth  which  enabled 
Earl  Richard,  in  the  reign  of  Richard  III., 
1257,  to  purchase  the  title  of  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans, was  attributed,  by  foreign  historians,  to 
the  revenue  which  he  derived  from  the  mines 
of  his  earldom.  During  the  latter  part  of  this 
reign,  the  treasury  was  much  enriched  by  the 
unusually  great  returns  of  the  lead  mines  of 
Beer  Alston  and  Combe  Martyn.  In  the  year 
1298  William  de  A\^ymondham  accounted  to 
the  treasury  for  two  hundred  and  seventy 
pounds  of  silver  raised  in  this  county,  which 
was  given  towards  the  portion  of  the  king's 
daughter,  Eleanor,  then  married  to  the  Duke 
of  Barr.  Three  years  subsequently  there  were 
impressed  three  hundred  and  sixty  miners  out 
of  Derbyshire  and  Wales  to  work  in  the  Devon- 
shire mines,  which  yielded  a  great  profit.  To- 
wards the  close  of  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  in 
1326,  the  mine  of  Brylande,  which  is  supposed 


s 


158  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

to  have  been  the  Beer  mine,  was  then  in  the 
king's  hands,  and  certain  persons  were  empow- 
ered to  elect  miners  in  the  counties  of  Devon 
and  Cornwall,  and  to  bring  back  such  as  had 
deserted  from  the  works.  During  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  lead  mines 
in  Mary  Turvey  were  worked  by  Mr.  Moore, 
who  was  also  engaged  in  searching  for  copper 
in  this  and  some  of  the  neighboring  parishes. 
Not  long  after  this  period  mining  again  started 
into  notice  ;  some  small  quantities  of  tin,  the 
produce  of  a  mine  at  Dartmoor,  wrought  by 
certain  poor  men,  about  eighty  years  since,  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  speculators,  who  engaged 
in  numerous  undertakings  of  the  kind,  and  not 
finding  in  their  own  neighborhood  a  sufficient 
number  of  persons  of  the  same  views  as  them- 
selves, endeavored  to  obtain  support  in  London, 
and  with  some  success.  Many  mines  were  thus 
set  to  work,  but  for  want  of  skill  or  discretion, 
they  generally  proved  unprofitable.  This  brings 
the  history  of  mining  down  to  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

The  progress  made  in  England  in  mining  in- 
dustry, since  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, is  patent  to  every  body. 

Mining  in  the  United  States  is  of  very  recent 
date,  and  has  never  been  regarded  with  much 
iavor. 


FORMER    UNPOPULARITY.  159 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  very  far  back  to  re- 
call the  unfavorable  judgment,  which  weighed 
so  heavily  "against  these  enterprises,  at  a  time 
when  the  popular  current  seemed  to  be  setting 
in  a  favorable  direction.  Every  body  remem- 
bers the  incredulity  with  which  the  first  heralds 
of  success  in  California  were  received  by  the 
more  sober  portion  of  the  community,  and  it 
was  a  long  time  before  many  could  be  brought 
to  believe  that  there  would  be  any  continuous 
yield  of  gold  sufficient  to  reward  the  multitudes 
who  were  embarking  in  its  pursuit.  But  what 
a  change  has  been  effected,  not  only  in  public 
opinion,  but  in  the  condition  of  society,  by  the 
vast  developments  of  this  precious  metal,  within 
but  little  more  than  a  decade  of  years  ! 

It  seems  almost  incredible  that  the  enthusi- 
asm of  the  old  Spaniards,  more  than  two  cen- 
turies ago,  which  events  in  our  day  prove  not 
to  have  been  without  method  in  its  madness, 
should  have  so  completely  died  out,  that,  in  the 
long  intervening  space,  there  is  no  sign  of  a 
searcher  for  the  true  El  Dorado. 

It  requires  no  great  wisdom  now  to  see  that 
if  these  deposits  had  been  fully  disclosed  at  that 
point  of  civilization,  human  condition  and  prog- 
ress would  scarcely  have  been  the  gainer  by  it. 
The  time  was  not  full.     The  masses  of  Euro- 


160  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

pean  population  were  but  as  soft  clay  in  the 
hands  of  the  potter,  and  the  potter's  hands  were 
gloved  in  iron  —  feudal  iron.  Many  of  the 
higher  arts  existed,  but  they  were  costly  arts, 
cultivated  by  the  few,  and  necessarily  restricted 
within  narrow  limits.  There  was  no  dissemi- 
nation among  the  many.  The  feudal  lords  and 
the  priesthood  were  the  only  great  lights  in  the 
midst  of  wide  wastes  of  darkness.  There  were 
no  useful  inventions,  no  productive  industries, 
and  there  was  no  sense  of  human  comfort  to 
break  and  cheer  the  thick  night  of  ignorance 
and  superstition.  If  these  immense  stores  of 
wealth  had  been  open  to  the  cupidity,  lust,  and 
brutality  of  the  masters  of  that  age  of  the 
world,  is  it  difficult  to  see  that  the  great  mass 
of  humanity,  instead  of  being  energized  and 
elevated  by  its  influence,  would  have  become 
still  further  debased  and  enslaved  ? 

And  for  this  reason  :  the  capacity  of  man, 
the  resources  of  his  intellect,  and  the  power  of 
his  hand,  had  not  begun  to  be  tried.  He  was, 
himself,  unconscious  of  the  elements  of  growth 
which  lay  dormant  within  him,  and  there  was 
no  room  for  growth,  even  if  the  seminal  princi- 
ple had  begun  to  act. 

Well  was  it,  then,  that  these  wonderful  de- 
velopments   were    reserved    to  this  later  age ; 


NEGLECT  OF  IRON.  161 

to  a  time  when  man  has  reached  a  full  con- 
sciousness of  his  powers,  responsibilities,  and 
duties  ;  to  a  time  when  money  may  be  applied 
to  so  many  springs  of  healthful  action,  and  con- 
duce to  so  wide  and  general  diffusion  of  happi- 
ness. 

While  every  one  now  admits  the  inex- 
haustible resources  of  the  gold  districts  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  richness  of  the  silver 
mines,  with  some  limitations,  there  is  not  alto- 
gether a  settled  impression  as  to  copper,  espe- 
cially among  those  who  are  not  conversant  with 
the  results  of  the  last  three  or  four  years. 

If  the  aggregate  production  of  the  copper 
mines  of  Lake  Superior  and  Canada,  together 
with  the  production  and  waste  of  this  metal  in 
California,  during  the  last  year,  were  summed 
up,  I  feel  quite  sure  it  would  settle  every  doubt 
in  any  man's  mind  as  to  the  value  of  this  branch 
of  our  mining  enterprise. 

With  respect  to  iron,  for  which  there  are  so 
many  more  uses  than  either  of  the  metals  which 
I  have  named,  it  must  be  said  there  is  evinced 
a  most  unaccountable  neglect.  There  is  no 
country  in  the  world  which  possesses  such  an 
abundance  of  the  best  iron  as  our  own.  It  lies, 
not  every  where,  but  in  many  sections,  in  such 
masses  as  to  astonish  the  most  cursory  observer. 
11 


162  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 

But  it  is  only  lately,  and  since  the  stimulus 
which  the  demands  of  the  war  have  imparted  to 
it,  that  it  has  begun  to  attract  attention.  The 
prices  of  iron  manufactures  have  become  greatly 
enhanced ;  and  I  believe  it  is  a  fact  that  the 
machinery  employed  in  the  country  at  this  mo- 
ment, in  the  working  of  iron,  is  inadequate  to 
the  task  of  supplying  the  calls  made  upon  it. 
There  is  one  thing  that  seems  to  me  evident, 
and  it  is,  that  the  value  and  price  of  iron  must 
be  very  much  increased  by  the  large  production 
of  the  more  precious  metals.  If  this  theory  is 
well  founded,  it  will  serve,  if  not  immediately, 
certainly  at  no  late  day,  to  bring  to  more  gen- 
eral notice,  this  important  branch  of  industry. 


BOSTON  ENTERPRISE.  163 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Squire  on  Boston  Enterprise.  — Mineral  Value  of  the 
Region.  —  Means  of  Access  to  it.  —  Saratoga  and  Ogdens- 
burg  Railroad.  —  Direct  Route  from  Boston  to  Canada 
and  the  "West. 

YOU  are  a  smart  people,  you  Bostonians, 
the  squire  said  to  me  one  day,  but  a  little 
spasmodic  in  your  smartness. 

When  you  have  accomplished  some  brilliant 
feat,  instead  of  making  that  the  stepping-stone 
to  something  higher,  you  are  too  apt  to  throw 
yourselves  back  upon  the  success  already 
achieved,  perhaps  to  fall  into  a  fit  of  staring 
admiration,  or  to  listen  to  the  sweet  applauses 
of  the  rest  of  mankind.  ^ 

When  this  fit  of  admiration  is  over,  you  are 
ready  to  take  hold  of  something  else.  Conse- 
quently, after  you  have  done  any  really  great 
work,  it  takes  you  a  decade  of  years  to  talk  it 
out,  and  write  it  up. 

Now,  I  suppose  you  know  that  we  are  in- 
debted to  Boston  enterprise  and  capital  for  the 
Northern  Railroad,  from  House's  Point  to 
Ogdensburg,    out    of  which    have    grown    tlic 


164  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

Potsdam  and  Watertown,  and  the  Ogdensburg 
and  Rome  roads,  which  have  done  all  the  work 
that  has  been  done  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years  in  developing  the  resources  of  this  county. 
From  our  metropolitan  city,  overflowing  with 
wealth,  we  have  received  little,  and  from  the 
State  government  not  as  much  encouragement 
as  we  have  really  deserved. 

When  you  built  the  Northern  Railroad  for  us, 
you  conferred  upon  us  an  immense  benefit,  and 
I  think  some  of  you  were  far-sighted  enough  to 
see,  at  the  time,  —  notwithstanding  the  momen- 
tary loss  suffered  by  you  in  its  construction,  — 
that  the  day  was  not  far  distant  when  the  road 
would  make  a  full  return  to  you. 

That  day  has  come,  my  dear  sir,  for  that 
road  has  now  become  one  of  the  principal  chan- 
nels of  trade  between  Boston  and  the  West.  I 
know  the  importance  of  your  Western  Railroad  ; 
but  that  road  stops  at  the  tide  water  of  the 
Hudson  River ;  and  I  can  see  the  immense  ad- 
vantages you  will  derive  from  the  completion  of 
the  Hoosac  Tunnel  road  ;  but  that  road,  also, 
must  find  its  limit  at  the  same  point.  Practi- 
cally, therefore,  the  Northern  Road  is  the  only 
arm  you  have  for  reaching  the  waters  of  Canada 
and  the  lakes  for  the  trade  of  those  regions. 
This  is  a  very  long  arm,  with  considerably  more 


BOSTON  ENTERPRISE.  165 

elbow  in  it  than  I  should  suppose  your  freight- 
payers  would  like  ;  but  it  is  a  good  deal  better 
than  no  arm  at  all,  and,  indeed,  it  is  a  very  good 
arm,  and  one  that  will  never  lack  employment. 
As  I  said  before,  Boston  did  a  good  thing 
when  she  built  that  road,  but  there  she  has  rested, 
I  suppose  to  get  it  well  written  up,  historically  ; 
but  Boston  is  a  commercial  city,  and  an  anxious 
competitor  with  not  only  New  York,  but  the 
other  growing  cities  upon  the  Atlantic  seaboard, 
in  the  race  for  foreign  trade,  and  she  cannot 
afford  to  stand  still ;  in  fact,  she  cannot  stand 
still ;  she  must  either  advance  or  fall  back. 
Well,  now,  since  the  completion  of  the  Northern 
Railroad,  British  capital  has  stepped  in  with  the 
design  of  cutting  us  all  off.  The  St.  Lawrence 
River  has  been  picketed  from  the  lakes  to  Mon- 
treal, against  us,  by  that  great  masterpiece  of 
British  sagacity,  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad, 
sometimes  called  the  bugbear  of  timid  minds, 
but  which  is  no  bugbear,  but  a  substantial 
reality,  with  an  actual  body  and  almost  a  soul 
—  seeking  to  absorb,  and  absorbing  by  its  enor- 
mous capacity,  almost  the  entire  business  of 
Upper  Canada,  and  also  a  large  portion  of  that 
of  our  Western  States  ;  a  moiety  of  which,  how- 
ever, is  permitted  to  find  its  way  to  Portland, 
enriching   that   city,  and    fostering    its    foreign 


166  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 

commerce,  which,  I  believe,  goes  very  much 
against  your  grain.  Now  I  am  going  to  tell 
you  a  secret,  and  you  may  use  your  discretion 
about  mentioning  it.  Here  is  a  section  of 
country  which  has  never  heard  the  whistle  of  a 
locomotive,  and  never  dreamed  of  such  a  thing, 
and  does  not  know  the  sound  of  a  carriage 
wheel,  of  at  least  one  hundred  miles  in  extent, 
in  a  direct  line  to  the  termini  of  your  Great 
Western  and  proposed  Hoosac.  The  whole  dis- 
tance from  one  given  point  of  railroad  connection 
to  another  is  of  course  greater  ;  but  I  limit  my- 
self to  an  approximate  statement  of  the  extent  of 
the  really  valuable  iron  and  timber  regioii.  You 
use  a  great  deal  of  iron  in  Boston,  and  timber  is 
getting  scarce  with  you.  My  secret  is  this  :  you 
can  have  this  iron  and  this  timber  in  any  form 
in  which  you  may  please  to  desire  them,  for  your 
domestic  industries  at  home,  or  for  shipment 
abroad,  for  the  mere  asking ;  but  the  request 
must  be  made  by  a  competent  engineer,  backed 
by  a  strong  posse  of  road  and  bridge  builders, 
and  enforced  by  a  powerful  combination  of 
steam  and  iron.  In  other  words,  you  have  only 
to  take  hold  with  the  gentlemen  who  have  un- 
dertaken to  build  the  Saratoga  and  Ogdensburg 
road,  with  that  liberality  and  vigor  which  char- 
acterize   your    people,  assisting  them  to  shape 


MINERAL    VALUE.  167 

public  opinion,  lending  them  capital  if  they 
need  it,  and,  generally,  doing  all  those  things 
necessary  to  be  done  in  the  prosecution  of  an 
enterprise  of  this  kind,  to  secure  the  rich  har- 
vests which  lie  here  waiting  for  the  hand  of  the 
reaper.  But  beyond  all  this,  there  is  the  great 
harvest  of  Canadian  and  Western  trade,  for 
which  this  road  will  furnish  a  direct,  short,  and 
unencumbered  channel.  *Take  a  look  at  your 
map  of  the  State  of  New  York,  which  I  am 
glad  to  see  you  have  brought  with  you,  and  we 
will  go  into  a  few  particulars. 

Troy,  or  its  neighborhood,  if  not  now,  must 
ultimately  become  the  great  half-way  station 
between  Boston  and  the  lakes,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  with  the  vast  ter- 
ritory of  Upper  Canada,  on  the  other.  There- 
fore, with  your  great  Massachusetts  roads  com- 
pleted and  consolidated,  and  in  the  most  effective 
manner  capacitated  for  the  largest  amount  of 
business  which  may  be  required  of  them,  you 
will  naturally  look  to  Troy  as  the  head  spring, 
or  rather  as  the  great  reservoir,  from  whence 
this  business  is  to  flow. 

If  the  facilities  for  the  delivery  of  produce 
at  that  centre  should  prove  to  be  insufficient  or 
cramped,  then  the  full  amount  of  business  which 
you  might  reasonably  expect,  and  abundantly 


168  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

provide  for,  will  not  only  not  be  obtained,  but 
the  capital  invested  in  these  works,  as  well  as 
that  employed  in  the  foreign  commerce  of 
Boston,  must  necessarily  be  subjected  to  loss. 

Looking  at  the  map,  you  will  observe  that 
the  New  York  Central  Railroad,  the  principal 
channel  of  western  communication  with  Boston, 
strikes  tide  water  at  Troy. 

Following  that  line  to  Rome,  you  will  find 
this  channel,  —  already  overflowing,  —  addition- 
ally fed  by  the  Rome  and  Ogdensburg  road, 
which  is  obliged  to  describe  a  half  circle,  almost, 
with  a  loss  of  from  fifty  to  sixty  miles,  to  reach 
Troy. 

It  is  by  this  route  that  all  produce  delivered 
at  Ogdensburg,  which  is  not  directed  over  the 
Northern  Railroad,  must  proceed  in  order  to 
reach  Boston.  Of  the  present  encumbered  con- 
dition of  Ogdensburg  with  respect  to  western 
freight,  your  merchants  have  had  lately  no  little 
experience. 

This  road,  heavily  burdened  with  New  York 
business,  and  the  Northern  road,  with  its  elbow 
crooked  up  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude, 
constitute  your  chief  avenues  of  connection  with 
Canada  and  the  West. 

The  route  of  this  projected  road,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  will  be  something  like  this  :  Starting 


NATURAL  ROUTE.  169 

from  Saratoga,  connected  by  rail  with  the  ter- 
mini of  your  roads  at  Troy,  it  follows  the  waters 
of  the  Hudson  River  to  Long  Lake,  branching 
off  to  the  Adirondack  iron  ore  beds  and  forges 
in  Essex  county ;  from  Long  Lake,  after  pen- 
etrating the  ridge  dividing  the  waters  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  from  those  of  the  Hudson,  it  must 
either  strike  the  head  waters  of  the  Grass  River, 
and  follow  its  channel,  which  is  not  a  hundred 
rods  from  where  we  are,  or  those  of  the  Oswe- 
gatchie,  and  follow  that  down  to  De  Kalb,  the 
junction  of  the  Ogdensburg  and  Rome  road. 
I  know,  from,  personal  familiarity  with  the 
ground,  that  both  of  these  routes  are  not  only 
feasible,  but  more  than  ordinarily  free  from 
difficulties  for  such  a  country  as  this.  It  would 
seem  almost  as  if  Nature,  by  design,  had  left 
these  passes  open  for  this  purpose. 

The  New  York  Central  and  the  Northern 
roads,  as  may  be  readily  seen,  traverse  the  cir- 
cumference of  an  immense  circle  of  territory, 
embracing  an  area  of  thousands  of  miles  of 
undeveloped  country,  penetrated  by  no  railroads, 
rich  in  agricultural  resources,  surpassingly  rich 
in  minerals,  and  covered  with  valuable  forests. 
The  Saratoga  and  Ogdensburg  road  proposes  to 
cut  this  orange  directly  through  its  centre,  both 
for  the  sake  of  the  juice  which  the  orange  con- 


170  TEE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

tains,  and  to  open  a  way  to  other  oranges  which 
lie  beyond.  The  distance  from  Saratoga  to 
De  Kalb,  the  nearest  connecting  point  with  Og- 
densburg,  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  ; 
it  may  be  something  more,  but  not  much. 

Sixty-four  miles  of  the  road  above  Saratoga 
were  graded,  and  many  of  the  culverts  built, 
several  years  since,  in  anticipation,  then,  of  its 
immediate  completion ;  but  either  a  want  of 
appreciation  on  the  part  of  the  public,  or  un- 
fortunate management,  caused  the  work  to  be 
neglected,  and  finally  to  cease.  It  is  now  in 
new  hands,  and  needs  only  that  public  atten- 
tion be  directed  to  its  great  merits,  in  connection 
with  the  commercial  interests  of  both  Ogdens- 
burg  and  Boston,  to  insure  its  success. 

An  examination  of  the  distances  on  the 
principal  routes  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River, 
considered  simply  with  reference  to  commerce 
beyond  Ogdensburg,  and  leaving  out  of  view 
the  large  local  business  between  Saratoga  and 
Ogdensburg,  furnishes  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  correctness  of  the  views  which  I  have  ex- 
pressed. 
Distance  from  Boston  to  Ogdensburg 

via  Northern  Road, 400  miles. 

Distance  from  Boston  to  Ogdensburg 

via  New  York  Central,     .     .     .     452  miles. 


BOSTON  AND  CANADA.  171 

Distance,  estimated,  via  proposed  Sar- 
atoga and  Ogdensburg,  .  .  .  365  miles. 
Makinff  a  difference  in  favor  of  the  latter 
road,  and  the  commerce  of  your  city,  of  eighty- 
seven,  as  against  the  Central,  and  thirty-five 
miles  against  the  Northern. 

These  figures  suffice  to  demonstrate  the  im- 
portance of  this  road  as  shortening  the  distance 
between  Boston  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River 
thirty-five  miles  by  the  most  direct  route,  inde- 
pendently of  the  fact  that  it  will  furnish,  as  I 
have  said  before,  a  new,  direct,  and  unencum- 
bered channel  for  western  produce  seeking  a 
market  on  the  seaboard. 

The  position  of  Ogdensburg  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. It  lies  at  the  foot  of  lake  navigation, 
where  all  the  large  steamers,  lake  vessels,  and 
propeller  lines  terminate  their  down  trips,  in- 
cluding numerous  Canadian  steamers,  which  do 
not  touch  at  any  other  American  port,  and 
where  the  river  steamers  from  Montreal  termi- 
nate their  upward  trips.  In  addition  to  which, 
as  has  been  already  intimated,  it  is  the  only 
point  where  the  Grand  Trunk  road  may  be 
successfully  tapped. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  is  it  not  plain  that 
this  road  would  conduce  very  much  to  the  in- 
terests of  Boston  ?  —  and  your  Western  Railroad 


172  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

which  is  so  rich  and  successful,  would  act 
wisely  if  it  secured  a  controlling  interest  in  it. 

In  making  these  statements,  you  will  per- 
ceive that  I  have  left  New  York  city  altogether 
out  in  the  cold  ;  but  my  apology  for  that  must 
be,  that  I  am  talking  to  a  Boston  man,  and  so 
far  Boston  has  been  a  better  friend  to  us  than 
New  York. 

"  You  seem  to  have  left  yourself  out,  too, 
squire." 

"How  so?" 

''  I  acknowledge  that  Bostonians,  as  a  class, 
are  easily  tickled,  and  that  this  highly-wrought 
picture  of  yours  of  these  delectable  mountains, 
and  this,  I  will  not  say,  imaginary  railroad, 
has  made  a  stroQg  impression  upon  me.  In 
fine,  I  agree  with  all  you  have  said,  but,  never- 
theless, I  have  not  failed  to  detect  the  cat  in 
the  meal." 

"  What  can  you  possibly  mean,  sir?" 

"  I  mean  that  if  this  road  is  built,  it  will 
advance  the  price  of  your  lands  to  ten,  and  per- 
haps twenty  dollars  an  acre,  if  they  happen 
to  lie  near  it,  and  benefit  Ogdensburg  and  its 
neighborhood  as.  much  as  Boston." 

"  Granted,  sir  ;  and  this  is  the  best  argument 
that  can  be  urged  for  its  construction.  If  nay 
lands  are    to    be   quadrupled   in    price  by  the 


CANADA   AND    THE    WEST,  173 

building  of  this  road,  it  will  be  because  the 
produce  of  these  lands  can  be  sent  to  market 
in  exchange  for  your  fish  and  cotton  manu- 
factures." 


174  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 


CHAPTER  XVL 

No  Evidence  of  Indian  Settlement.  —  Interesting  Relics. 
—  Oswegatchie  and  St.  Regis  Tribes.  —  Legend  of  the 
Bell  of  Saut  St.  Louis.  —  Rev.  John  Williams. 

HAVE  you  noticed  in  your  wanderings  over 
this  forest  any  traces  of  Indian  occupation 
or  settlement  ?  "  I  asked  the  squire,  one  evening, 
as  we  sat  round  the  camp  fire. 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "  I  cannot  say  that  I  have. 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  these  woods  were 
never  inhabited  by  red  men.  They  were  doubt- 
less visited  for  purposes  of  hunting  and  fishing 
by  the  tribes  living  in  the  valley  of  the  Mo- 
hawk, and  at  a  later  day  by  the  Oswegatchies, 
and  the  colony  at  St.  Regis.  There  are  no 
evidences  of  former  habitation,  and  no  signs  of 
any  cultivation  of  the  soil,  such  as  have  been 
observed  in  many  other  places.  There  is  also 
an  entire  absence  of  any  of  those  remarkable 
features  which  in  some  parts  of  the  country 
have  attracted  so  much  curiosity,  and  afforded 
food  for  speculation.  No  mounds  or  earth- 
works of  any  kind.  The  Indians  seem  to  have 
been  content  with  occupying  the  lower  banks  of 


INTERESTING   RELICS.  175 

the  rivers  which  descend  from  this  plateau,  the 
St.  Regis,  Racket,  Grass,  and  Oswegatchie, 
perhaps  from  their  nearness  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence, then,  as  now,  the  great  avenue  of  com- 
munication among  the  tribes. 

''  I  have  been  told  that  many  interesting  relics 
have  been  found  at  and  near  the  mouths  of 
these  rivers,  and  along  the  shores  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  but  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
river,  which  are  attributed  to  early  races,  and 
a  remote  period  of  time. 

"  The  Oswegatchie  Indians  date  from  a  settle- 
ment made  at  what  was  then  called  La  Presen- 
tation, near  the  present  site  of  Ogdensburg, 
consisting  of  some  of  the  Abbe  Picquet's  Iro- 
quois disciples  ;  and  this  place  became  the  seat 
of  a  French  mission,  which  lasted  until  the  con- 
quest of  the  place  by  the  English.  The  colony 
became  much  reduced,  and  was  entirely  broken 
up  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 
The  St.  Regis  tribe,  located  upon  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  at  a  point  between  the  mouths  of 
the  Racket  and  Saint  Regis  Rivers,  is  a  colony 
from  the  Mohawks,  which,  yielding  to  the  per- 
suasions of  the  early  French  missionaries,  em- 
braced the  Catholic  faith,  and  first  emigrating 
to  Caughnawaga,  or  the  Saut  St.  Louis,  thence 
sent  a  colony  to  the  present  site  of  St.  Regis. 


176  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

"  I  remember  an  interesting  legend  connected 
with  the  Cauglmawagas,  which  I  have  either 
heard  or  read  in  my  younger  days,  and  will  try 
to  relate  it  to  you  in  my  homely  way,  if  you  are 
not  too  sleepy.  It  is  that  of  the  Bell  of  Saut 
St.  Louis. 

"  '  Father  Nicholas,  the  French  priest,  having 
assembled  a  considerable  number  of  Indians, 
who  had  been  converted  to  the  Catholic  faith, 
had  established  them  in  the  village  which  now 
bears  the  name  of  the  Saut  St.  Louis,  upon  the 
River  St.  Lawrence. 

"  '  The  situation  of  the  village  is  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  which  the  banks  of  that  noble 
river  presents,  and  is  among  the  most  pic- 
turesque which  the  country  contains. 

"  ••  The  church  stands  upon  a  point  of  land 
which  juts  into  the  river,  and  its  bell  sends  its 
echoes  over  the  waters  with  a  clearness  which 
forms  a  striking  contrast  with  the  iron  bells 
which  were  formerly  so  common  in  Canada, 
while  the  tin-covered  spire  of  the  church,  glit- 
tering in  the  sunlight,  with  the  dense  and 
gloomy  forests  which  surround  it,  give  a  char- 
acter of  romance  to  this  little  church,  and  the 
legend  of  its  celebrated  bell. 

"  '  Father  Nicholas  having,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Indians,  erected  a  church  and  a  belfry,  in  one 


THE   BELL   OF  SAUT  ST,   LOUIS.         177 

of  his  sermons  explained  to  his  humble  auditors 
that  a  bell  was  as  necessary  to  a  belfry  as  a 
priest  to  a  church,  and  exhorted  them  to  lay 
aside  a  portion  of  the  furs  that  they  collected  in 
hunting,  until  enough  was  accumulated  to  pur- 
chase a  bell,  which  could  only  be  procured  by 
sending  to  France.  The  Indians  exhibited  an 
inconceivable  ardor  in  performing  this  religious 
duty,  and  the  packet  of  furs  was  promptly  made 
out,  and  forwarded  to  Havre,  where  an  ecclesias- 
tical personage  was  delegated  to  make  the  pur- 
chase. The  bell  was  accordingly  ordered,  and 
in  due  time  forwarded,  on  board  the  Grand 
Monarque,  which  was  on  the  point  of  sailing 
for  Quebec. 

"  '  It  so  happened  that  after  her  departure  one 
of  the  wars  which  the  French  and  the  English 
so  often  waged,  sprung  up,  and  in  consequence 
the  Grand  Monarque  never  attained  her  des- 
tined port,  but  was  taken  by  a  New  England 
privateer,  brought  into  the  port  of  Salem,  where 
she  was  condemned  as  a  lawful  prize,  and  sold 
for  the  benefit  of  her  captors. 

"  '  The  bell  was  purchased  by  the  village  of 
Deerfield,  upon  the  Connecticut  River,  for  a 
church  then  about  being  erected  by  the  congre- 
gation of  the  celebrated  Rev.  John  Williams. 

u  i  \yhen  Father  Nicholas  received  news  of 
12 


178  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

the  misfortune,  he  assembled  his  Indians,  re- 
lated to  them  the  miserable  condition  of  the  bell, 
retained  in  purgatory  in  the  hands  of  heretics, 
and  concluded  by  saying,  that  it  would  be  a 
most  praiseworthy  enterprise  to  go  and  re- 
cover it. 

"  '  This  appeal  had  in  it,  as  it  were,  a  kind  of 
inspiration,  and  fell  upon  its  hearers  with  all  the 
force  of  the  eloquence  of  Peter  the  Hermit  in 
preaching  the  Crusades. 

"  '  The  Indians  deplored  together  the  misfor- 
tune of  their  bell,  which  had  not  hitherto 
received  the  rite  of  baptism  ;  they  had  not  the 
slightest  idea  of  a  bell,  but  it  was  enough  for 
them  that  Father  Nicholas,  who  preached  and 
said  mass  for  them  in  their  chureh,  said  that  it 
had  some  indispensable  use  in  the  services  of 
the  church. 

"  '  Their  eagerness  for  the  chase  was  in  a  mo- 
ment suspended,  and  they  assembled  together  in 
groups,  and  seated  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
conversed  on  the  unhappy  captivity  of  their  bell, 
and  each  brought  forward  his  plan,  which  he 
deemed  most  likely  to  succeed  in  effecting  its 
recovery. 

"  '  Some  of  their  number,  who  had  heard  a 
bell,  said  that  it  could  be  heard  beyond  the 
murmur  of  the  rapid,  and  that  its  voice   was 


LEGEND    OF   THE   BELL,  179 

more  harmonious  than  that  of  the  sweetest 
songster  of  the  grove,  heard  in  the  quiet  still- 
ness of  evening,  when  all  nature  was  hushed  in 
repose. 

'' '  All  were  melancholy,  and  inspired  with 
a  holy  enthusiasm  ;  many  fasted,  and  others 
performed  severe  penances,  to  obtain  the  de- 
liverance of  the  bell,  or  the  palliation  of  its 
sufferings. 

"  '  At  length  the  day  of  its  deliverance  ap- 
proached ;  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  governor 
of  Canada,  resolved  to  send  an  expedition 
against  the  British  colonies  of  Massachusetts 
and  New  Hampshire.  The  command  of  this 
expedition  was  given  to  Major  Hertel  de  Rou- 
ville,  and  one  of  the  priests  of  the  Jesuit  college 
at  Quebec  was  sent  to  procure  the  services  of 
Father  Nicholas  to  accompany  the  expedition. 

"  '  The  Indians  were  immediately  assembled 
in  the  church,  the  messenger  was  presented  to 
the  congregation,  and  Father  Nicholas,  in  a 
solemn  discourse,  pointed  to  him  as  worthy  of 
their  veneration,  from  his  being  the  bearer  of 
good  tidings,  who  was  about  departing  for  his 
return  to  Quebec,  to  join  the  war.  At  the  end 
of  the  discourse  the  whole  audience  raised,  with 
one  voice,  the  cry  of  war,  and  demanded  to  be 
led  to  the  place  where  their  bell  was  detained 
by  the  heretics. 


180  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

''  '  The  savages  began  to  paint  themselves  in 
the  most  hideous  colors,  and  were  animated 
with  a  wild  enthusiasm  to  join  the  expedition. 

"  '  It  was  the  depth  of  winter  when  they  de- 
parted to  join  the  army  of  M.  de  Rouville,  at 
Fort  Chambly.  Father  Nicholas  marched  at 
their  head,  with  a  large  banner,  surmounted  by 
a  cross,  and  as  they  departed  from  their  village 
their  wives  and  little  ones,  in  imitation  of 
women  of  the  Crusades,  who  animated  the  war- 
riors of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  they  sang  a  sacred 
hymn,  which  their  venerated  priest  had  selected 
for  the  occasion.  They  arrived  at  Chambly, 
after  a  march  of  great  hardship,  at  the  moment 
the  French  soldiers  were  preparing  to  start  on 
their  march  up  Lake  Champlain. 

"  '  The  Indians  followed  in  their  rear,  with 
that  perseverance  peculiar  to  their  character. 
In  this  order  the  Indians  remained,  following  in 
silence,  until  they  reached  Lake  Champlain, 
where  all  the  army  had  been  ordered  to  ren- 
dezvous. This  lake  was  then  frozen,  and  less 
covered  by  the  snow  than  the  shores,  and  was 
taken  as  a  more  convenient  route  for  the  army. 
With  their  thoughts  wrapped  up  in  the  single 
contemplation  of  the  unhappy  captivity  of  their 
bell,  the  Indians  remained  taciturn,  and  during 
this   pensive    march    exhibiting   no    symptoms 


LEGEND    OF   THE   BELL,  181 

of  fatigue  or  fear,  no  regret  for  their  families 
or  homes,  and  they  regarded  with  equal  in- 
difference, on  the  one  hand,  the  interminable 
line  of  forest,  sometimes  black  from  dense 
evergreens,  and  in  others  white  from  loads 
of  snow ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  bleak  lines 
of  rocks,  and  deserts  of  snow  and  ice,  which 
bordered  their  path. 

'' '  The  French  soldiers,  who  suffered  dread- 
fully from  fatigue  and  cold,  regarded  with  ad- 
miration the  agility  and  cheerfulness  with  which 
the  Indians  seemed  to  glide  over  the  yielding 
surface  of  the  snow  on  their  snow-shoes. 

'' '  The  quiet  endurance  of  the  proselytes  of 
Father  Nicholas  formed  a  striking  contrast 
with  the  irritability  and  impatience  of  the 
French  soldiers. 

"  '  When  they  arrived  at  the  point  where  now 
stands  the  city  of  Burlington,  the  order  was 
given  for  a  general  halt,  to  make  more  efficient 
arrangements  for  penetrating  through  the  for- 
ests to  Massachusetts. 

"  '  In  leaving  this  point  De  Rouville  gave  to 
Father  Nicholas  the  command  of  his  Indian 
warriors,  and  took  the  lead  of  his  own  himself, 
with  compass  in  hand,  to  make  the  most  direct 
course  for  Deerfield.  Nothing  which  the 
troops    had   thus    far    suffered    could    compare 


182  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

with  what  they  now  endured  on  this  inarch 
through  a  wild  country,  in  the  midst  of  deep 
snow,  and  with  no  supplies  beyond  what  they 
could  carry. 

"  '  The  French  soldiers  became  impatient,  and 
wasted  their  breath  in  curses  and  complaints 
at  the  hardships  they  suffered ;  but  the  Indians, 
animated  by  a  zeal  which  sustained  them 
above  the  sense  of  hardships,  remained  stead- 
fast in  the  midst  of  fatigue,  which  increased 
with  the  severity  of  their  sufferings.  Their 
custom  of  travelling  in  the  forest  had  qualified 
them  for  these  hardships,  which  elicited  the 
curses  and  execrations  of  their  not  less  brave 
but  more  irritable  companions. 

"  '  Some  time  before  the  expedition  arrived  at 
its  destination  the  priest  Nicholas  fell  sick 
from  over-exertion.  His  feet  were  worn  by 
the  labor  of  travelling,  and  his  face  torn  by  the 
branches,  which  he  neglected  to  watch,  in  his 
eagerness  to  follow  the  troops. 

"  '  He  felt  that  he  was  engaged  in  a  holy  ex- 
pedition, and  recalling  to  mind  the  martyrdom 
of  the  saints,  and  the  persecutions  which  they 
endured,  he  looked  forward  to  the  glory 
reserved  for  his  reward  for  the  sufferings 
which  he  might  encounter  in  recovering  the 
bell. 


LEGEND    OF   THE   BELL.  183 

"'On  the  evening  of  February  20th,  1704, 
the  expedition  arrived  within  two  miles  of 
Deerfield,  without  being  discovered.  De  Rou- 
ville  here  ordered  his  men  to  rest  and  refresh 
themselves  a  short  time,  and  he  here  issued  his 
orders  for  attacking  the  town. 

" '  The  surface  of  the  snow  was  frozen,  and 
crushed  under  the  feet,  but  De  Rouville,  with 
a  remarkable  sagacity,  adopted  a  stratagem 
to  deceive  the  inhabitants  and  the  garrison. 
He  gave  orders  that  in  advancing  to  the  assault 
his  troops  should  make  frequent  pauses,  and 
then  rush  forward  with  rapidity ;  thus  imitating 
the  noise  made  in  the  forest  by  the  irregular 
blowing  of  the  wind  among  branches  laden 
with  ice.  The  alarm  was  at  length  given,  and 
a  severe  combat  ensued,  which  resulted  in  the 
capture  of  the  town,  and  the  slaughter  and 
dispersion  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  garrison. 

"  '  The  attack  occurred  in  the  night,  and  at 
daybreak,  the  Indians  who  had  been  exhausted 
by  the  labors  of  the  night,  presented  themselves 
before  Father  Nicholas  in  a  body,  and  begged 
to  bp  led  to  the  bell,  that  they  might  by  their 
homage  prove  their  veneration  for  it.  Their 
priest  was  greatly  affected  by  this  earnest 
request,  and  De  Rouville  and  others  of  the 
French   laughed   immoderately  at   it,  but    the 


184  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

priest  wished  not  to  discourage  them  in  their 
wishes,  and  he  obtained  of  the  French  chief 
permission  to  send  one  of  his  soldiers  to  ring 
it  in  the  hearing  of  the  Indians. 

''  'The  sound  of  the  bell  in  the  stillness  of  a 
cold  morning,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  cahiiness 
of  the  forest,  echoed  clear  and  far,  and  fell 
upon  the  ears  of  the  simple  Indians  like  the 
voice  of  an  oracle.  They  trembled,  and  were 
filled  with  fear  and  wonder.  The  bell  was 
taken  from  the  belfry,  and  attached  to  a  pole 
in  such  a  manner  that  four  men  could  carry  it, 
and  in  this  way  it  was  borne  off  with  their 
plunder  in  triumph,  the  Indians  glorying  in  the 
deliverance  of  this  miraculous  wonder.  But 
they  shortly  perceived  it  was  too  heavy  a  bur- 
den for  the  rugged  route  they  pursued  and  the 
yielding  nature  of  the  snows  over  which  they 
travelled.  Accordingly,  upon  arriving  at  the 
point  on  the  lake  where  they  had  left  it,  they 
])uried  their  cherished  treasure,  with  many 
lienedictipns  of  Father  Nicholas,  until  the  period 
rhould  arrive  when  they  could  transport  it  with 
more  convenience, 

"  'As  soon  as  the  ice  had  disappeared,  and  the 
bland  air  of  spring  had  returned,  giving  foliage 
to  the  trees,  and  the  fragrance  and  beauty  of 
flqwers  to  the  forests,   Father  Nicholas  again 


LEGEND    OF   THE   BELL.  185 

assembled  at  the  church  his  Indian  converts,  to 
select  a  certain  number  of  the  tribe,  who,  with 
the  assistance  of  a  yoke  of  oxen,  should  go  and 
bring  in  the  dearly  prized  bell. 

"  '  During  this  interval,  all  the  women  and  chil- 
dren of  the  Indian  village  having  been  informed 
of  the  wonderful  qualities  of  the  bell,  awaited 
its  arrival  with  eagerness  and  impatience,  and 
regarded  its  advent  as  one  of  those  events  which 
but  rarely  mark  the  progress  of  ages.  As  the 
time  approached  when  the  curious  object  should 
arrive,  they  were  assembled  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  and  discoursing  upon  the  subject,  when  far 
off,  in  the  stillness  of  the  twilight,  there  was 
heard  from  the  depths  of  the  forest  a  sound, 
which,  from  being  feeble  and  scarcely  audible, 
became  every  moment  louder.  Every  one  lis- 
tened, when  presently  the  cry  arose,  "It  is  the 
bell !  "  ''  It  is  the  bell !  "  and  in  a  moment  after 
the  oxen  were  seen  emerging  from  the  wood, 
surrounded  by  a  group  of  Indians,  and  bearing 
the  precious  burden  on  a  pole  between  them. 
They  had  hung  upon  the  beam  and  around  the 
bell  clusters  of  wild  flowers  and  leaves,  and  the 
oxen  were  adorned  with  garlands  of  flowers. 
Thus  marching  in  triumph.  Father  Nicholas 
entered  his  village,  more  proud  of  his  success, 
and   received   with  more  heartfelt  joy,  than  a 


186  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA, 

Roman  general  returning  in  triumph  from  the 
conquest  of  nations. 

'' '  From  this  triumphal  march,  in  the  midst 
of  the  quiet  of  the  evening,  which  was  broken 
only  by  the  murmur  of  th«  rapid  softened  by 
the  distance,  arose  the  shouts  of  rejoicing  as 
the  cortege  entered  the  village,  and  the  idol  bell 
was  deposited  in  the  church.  Every  one  grati- 
fied his  eager  curiosity  by  examining  the  strange 
and  musical  metal,  and  the  crusade  had  been 
crowned  with  unqualified  success. 

" '  In  due  time  it  was  raised  to  its  place  in  the 
belfry,  and  has  ever  since,  at  the  accustomed 
hours,  sent  its  clear  tones  over  the  broad  bosom 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  announce  the  hour  of 
prayer  and  the  lapse  of  time  ;  and  although  its 
tones  are  shrill  and  feeble  beside  its  modern 
companion,  they  possess  a  music,  and  call  up  an 
association,  which  will  long  give  an  interest  to 
the  church  of  the  Saut  St.  Louis,  at  the  Indian 
village  of  Caughnawaga.'  " 

"  That  is  a  very  good  story,"  I  said  to  the 
squire,  when  he  had  finished  his  narrative  and 
commenced  relighting  his  pipe,  '*  and  is,  without 
doubt,  substantially  true." 

"  There  are  some  additional  facts  of  interest 
connected  with  it.  The  Rev.  John  Williams, 
minister  at  Deerfield,  was,  himself,  together  with 


REV.   JOHN   WILLIAMS,  187 

liis  wife  and  five  children,  two  liaving  been  killed 
by  the  Indians,  among  the  captives  taken  by  De 
Rouville,  and  carried  into  Canada,  —  Mrs.  Wil- 
liams, being  unable,  from  fatigue  and  Aveakness, 
to  keep  up  with  the  party,  was  tomahawked  on 
the  second  day  of  the  return. 

The  remainder  of  the  family  reached  Canada 
after  a  journey  of  frightful  suffering,  and  were 
two  years  afterwards  released  from  captivity. 
Among  the  surviving  children  was  a  daughter, 
Eunice,  who  affiliated  with  the  Indians,  and 
from  her  descended  the  Rev.  Eleazar  Williams, 
who,  if  not  now,  was  a  few  years  since  a 
minister  at  St.  Regis. 

Note. — The  squire  probably  derived  this  story  from 
the  translation  from  the  French  by  Mr.  Hough.  I  have 
chosen  to  think  so,  and  adopted  it.  The  following  note 
appended  to  the  legend  by  the  translator  I  have  also 
copied.  "  The  old  church  of  Caughnawaga  was,  in  1845, 
replaced  by  the  present  large  and  substantial  stone  edifice, 
erected  with  funds  given  the  Indians  for  that  purpose  in 
consideration  of  lands  which  the  government  had  appro- 
priated to  itself  as  having  belonged  to  the  Jesuits,  but  for 
which  they  awarded  the  value  on  its  being  proved  that  this 
mission  had  never  belonged  to  that  order.  In  1830  a  large 
bell  was  presented  by  the  English  government  to  the 
church,  and  hangs  by  the  side  of  the  time-honored  and 
venerable  relic  which  forms  the  subject  of  this  legend.  The 
latter  originally  bore  an  inscription  in  the  Latin  language, 
but  this  has  been  effaced  by  the  chisel,  probably  by  its 
New  England  owners,  to   prevent  any  identification   by 


188  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

those  for  whom  it  was  originally  intended.  Adjoining  the 
church  stands  the  priest's  house,  which  presents  the  same 
appearance  as  when  Charlevoix,  the  traveller,  abode  in  it. 
The  room  is  still  pointed  out  where  he  lived,  and  the  desk 
on  which  he  wrote  a  portion  of  that  history  which  has 
made  his  name  celebrated." 


ALONE  IN  CAMP.  189 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Alone  in  Camp.  —  Communion  with  the  Trees.  —  Influ- 
ences of  the  Forest.  —  Its  former  vast  Extent.  —  Improv- 
ident Waste  of  its  Wealth.  —  Probable  Fate  of  these 
Woods.  —  Economic  Value  of  the  Forest. 

A  SOLITARY  in  camp,  a  solitary  in  the 
great  woods,  my  companions  absent  on  dis- 
tant expeditions,  and  no  human  ear  within  reach 
of  my  voice,  the  sole  tenant  of  this  lodge  in 


*  a  vast  wilderness, 


[Of]  boundless  contiguity  of  shade,"  — 

as  vast  and  boundless  as  the  poet  could  have 
conceived  or  wished,  I  spent  the  greater  part  of 
the  day.  It  was  a  memorable  day,  from  the 
fact  of  its  being  the  seventeenth  of  June,  and  I 
hallowed  it  by  an  elaborate  inscription  upon  the 
smooth  disk  of  a  giant  hemlock,  which  had  been 
stripped  of  its  bark  to  furnish  a  roof  for  our 
rustic  arbor.  This  done,  and  some  small  house- 
hold occupations  disposed  of,  I  began  to  feel  the 
want  of  society.  It  could  only  be  a  "society 
where  none  intrudes,"  community  of  kind  be- 
ing out  of  the  question.  There  is  the  society 
of  books,  which  never  forces  itself  upon  you,  but 


190  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

meekly  waits  your  bidding  ;  but  that  was  denied 
me,  for  books  could  have  found  no  place  in  our 
distended  packs. 

Deprived,  then,  of  the  society  of  my  fellow- 
man,  and  of  books,  the  reflected  image  of  his 
speech  and  thought,  I  sought  the  society  of  Na- 
ture. "  If  but  these  trees  had  language  !  "  I  said 
to  myself.  ''  There  is  no  speech  or  language 
but  their  voices  are  heard  among  them ;  "  and 
these  voices,  plaintive  and  low,  came  sweetly  to 
my  ears  through  the  glistening  rain. 

But  who  shall  be  the  interpreter,  and  what 
shall  be  the  interpretation  ?  Alas  !  this  language 
must  overtask  the  subtlest  human  skill ;  and 
these  voices,  mingling  together  in  familiar  and 
kindly  intercourse  throughout  the  wood,  with 
nice  differences  of  sound,  perceptible  to  an  acute 
ear,  but  incomprehensible  to  human  understand- 
ing, may  continue  to  whisper  their  secret  loves 
and  pains  into  the  ear  of  day  and  night  with- 
out fear  of  discovery. 

And  yet  I  felt,  as  one  feels  in  the  society  of 
kind  and  sympathetic  people  of  another  race  and 
language,  whose  words  are  unintelligible  to  the 
ear,  but  whose  looks  and  motions,  full  of  grace 
and  condescension,  go  directly  to  the  heart. 

And  this  universal  language,  more  wonderful 
than  the  Pentecostal  gift  of  tongues,  and  com- 


INFLUENCES   OF   THE   FOREST.         191 

mon  as  well  to  Nature  as  to  man,  brought  me 
into  such  close  companionship  with  the  trees, 
that  I  doubt,  if  we  had  been  able  to  impart 
intelligible  sounds  to  each  other,  whether  the 
pleasure  would  have  been  so  great  to  me  as 
that  which  I  enjoyed  under  the  influence  of 
this  mysterious  bond  of  unity  and  love,  the 
inspiration  of  Him  to  whom  all  animate  and 
inanimate  things  are  one. 

But  I  must  admit  that  my  pleasure  would 
have  been  heightened  if  I  had  had  at  my  side 
some  appreciative  student  of  Nature,  versed  in 
the  lore  of  the  forest ;  not  a  hard  and  dry  ana- 
lyst, or  mere  technical  scholar,  but  some  kindly- 
natured  man,  who  knew  the  constitutions  and 
habits  of  these  companions  of  my  solitude,  and 
knew  them  all  the  better  because  he  loved  them. 
He  might,  perhaps,  have  taught  me  to  look  for 
the  source  of  this  wondrous  sympathy  and  near- 
ness, ,  without  supervening  bar  of  coldness  or 
distrust,  in  that  intelligence  which  lies  deeper 
than  language,  by  which  the  thought  of  one 
man  interprets  the  thought  of  another  ;  by  which 
my  heart  and  the  hearts  of  these  trees  lay  open 
to  each  other,  and  pulsated  together  in  perfect 
unison.  Gentle  monitors  !  who  speak  not  to 
repel,  but  to  draw  closer  to  them ;  who  up- 
braid not,  and  pass  sentence  upon  none,  but  in- 


192  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

vite  to  love  and  virtue  by  the  revelation  of  tlieir 
own  great  peace. 

"  Come,  lay  thee  in  the  cooling  shade, 
And  heal  the  hurts  that  sin  has  made," — 

they  seemed  to  say  to  me. 

This  delightful  charm  which  the  forest  exer- 
cises over  a  man  of  appreciative  nature  is  not  its 
only  merit.  The  Creator  made  it  not  alone  as 
a  mantle  of  beauty,  to  cover  the  naked  rocks 
and  hills,  or  fringe  the  lakes  and  rivers,  but  for 
necessary  and  practical  uses.  I  wish  it  could 
be  said,  with  truth,  that  this  beneficent  design 
has  not  been  frustrated  by  the  great  destruction 
which  has  been  visited  upon  it  from  one  side  of 
the  continent  to  the  other. 

For  a  long  time  after  our  fathers  came  to 
this  country,  and  before  the  infant  colonies  had 
started  into  much  growth,  its  realm  was  as 
boundless  as  the  sea. 

The  infant  settlements  were  confined  to  the 
narrow  edge  of  the  sea-shore,  and  all  beyond 
was  an  unbroken  wilderness,  scarcely  pene- 
trated to  its  inmost  recesses,  except  by  the  ad- 
venturous hunter  and  trapper,  or  the  hardy 
pioneer. 

But  after  the  great  exodus  of  European  peo- 
ples commenced  its  Western  movement,  to  be 
added  to  the  natural  and  rapid  increase  of  our 


WASTE    OF  ITS  WEALTH.  193 

own  population,  and  when  by  the  happy  fortune; 
of  our  war  of  independence,  the  government  be- 
came settled  upon  its  liberal  basis,  the  forest.-^ 
began  to  give  way  ; — like  the  hard  pressed  lin:* 
of  an  enemy  upon  the  field  of  battle,  they  kepi 
constantly  falling  backward,  retreating  in  good 
order,  with  their  faces  to  the  front,  but  always 
retreating. 

On  looking  over  the  immense  surface  of  ter- 
ritory, which  has  been  thus  defloured  of  its 
virgin  beauty,  one  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  witli 
the  unnecessary  waste  which  has  followed  upou 
the  settlement  and  population  of  the  country. 
All  sense  of  the  beautiful,  all  true  ideas  of  the 
value  of  the  tree  to  the  soil,  all  appreciation  of* 
the  instructive  spirit  of  the  woods,  seem  to 
have  become  merged  and  lost  in  a  mad  cupid- 
ity, which  has  overreached  itself.  Might  not 
these  forests  have  been  thinned  and  husbanded, 
instead  of  being  utterly  destroyed,  with  great 
gain  to  all?  Might  not  our  cold  northern  soil 
have  been  made  to  double  its  present  produc- 
tion under  their  grateful  w^armth  and  shelter? 
Might  not  our  population  have  retained  that 
braced  and  healthful  vigor  and  tone,  both  of 
mind  and  body,  which  characterized  our  ances- 
tors of  two  or  three  generations  back  ?  These 
are  questions  that  admit  of  but  one  answer. 
13 


194  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

The  strong  contrast  between  the  rude  but 
hearty  civilization  which  flourished  among  our 
people  when  the  forest  was  an  institution,  and 
that  which  exists  now,  I  fear  gives  not  a  little 
support  to  the  rough  but  truthful  lines  of  the 
poet,  — 

**  Who  liveth  by  the  ragged  pine 
Foundeth  a  heroic  line  ; 
Who  liveth  in  the  palace  hall 
Waneth  fast  and  spendeth  all." 

What  has  become  of  these  vast  contiguous 
shades,  these  shoreless  seas  of  emerald  bloom, 
this  incalculable  wealth  of  vegetable  life?  I 
ask,  and  am  not  obliged  to  wait  long  for  an 
answer. 

The  builder  of  ships  touches  his  hat  to  me 
with  a  complacent  smile.  Think  you,  sir,  that 
the  Golden  Fleece  could  ever  have  been  freighted 
without  ships?  or  that  the  Phoenician  trader 
could  have  threaded  the  pillars  of  Hercules  to 
found  a  city,  from  whence  a  ship  was  to  bear 
the  discoverer  of  this  continent  across  an  un- 
known sea,  without  ships?  or  that  England 
could  have  vanquished  the  Spanish  Armada 
without  ships  ?  Ships  are  as  necessary  to  the 
New  World  as  the  Old.  You  ask  me  what  has 
become  of  these  forms  of  beauty  and  strength 
that  glorified  the  land  in  the   old  times  ?  and  I 


FATE    OF    THESE  WOODS,  195 

answer,  They  have  shipped  in  the  country's  ser- 
vice, sir.  They  have  left  their  native  soil,  not 
on  compulsion,  but  by  natural  destiny,  giving  up 
their  young  and  their  mature  life,  to  bear  her 
commerce  into  all  seas,  or,  as  her  brave  defend- 
ers against  enemies  abroad  or  traitors  at  home, 
to  man  her  wooden  walls,  and  carry  her  flag 
into  the  deadliest  rage  of  battle.  Many  have 
fallen  by  disease  in  noxious  climes,  many  have 
found  their  graves  in  the  caverns  of  the  sea, 
and  not  a  few  have  been  struck  down  in  the 
contest  of  arms.  But  did  these  brave  spirits 
suppose,  when  they  left  their  homes  upon  the 
hill-sides  or  in  the  verdant  valleys,  that  the  ten- 
der shoots  —  the  young  and  straight  saplings, 
whom  they  had  left  behind  to  gladden  the  old 
homesteads  —  were  to  be  offered  up  an  unwilling 
sacrifice  to  the  greed  of  gold  ?  I  think  not,  sir. 
This  is  the  language  of  hyperbole,  but,  never- 
theless, contains  truth.  The  waste  of  the  forest 
has  been,  beyond  all  power  of  computation,  dis- 
proportionate to  the  necessary  uses  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  while  this  waste  has  been  going  on,  no 
attention  has  been  paid  to  planting,  or  the  foster- 
ing of  such  remaining  woodlands  as  still  retained 
the  elements  of  growth.  Too  much  land  was 
originally  cleared  for  husbandry,  more  than  could 
be  cultivated  with  profit,  and  this  error,  the  most 


196  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

unlikely  one  that  we  should  suppose  a  settler 
would  commit,  lies  at  the  root  of  the  matter.  This 
remark  applies  more  particularly  to  some  of 
the  older  States.  In  the  eastern  part  of  Massa- 
chusetts, for  instance,  any  considerable  Body  of 
wood,  of  large  growth,  is  scarcely  to  be  found. 

In  the  midst  of  this  dense  forest,  it  is  difficult 
for  me  to  realize  the  barrenness  which  makes 
so  marked  a  feature  of  that  section  of  my  native 
State.  Its  bald  hills  and  naked  plains,  dear  to 
the  hearts  of  those  born  upon  the  soil,  but  cold 
and  inhospitable  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger,  I 
could  wish  might  receive  the  garniture  of  these 
woods.  One  in  a  thousand  of  these  trees,  which 
might  well  be  spared,  and  benefit  all  that  should 
remain,  transplanted  in  congenial  soil,  would 
cause  them  to  bloom  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 
There  is  certainly  no  element  of  beauty  com- 
parable with  the  scenery  of  the  forest.  The 
almost  endless  variety  of  forms  and  colors  of  the 
trees,  each  having  its  peculiar  and  plainly-marked 
characteristics,  but  all  blending  and  harmoniz- 
ing together,  and  the  beautiful  natural  order  in 
which  they  stand  grouped,  are  effects  which 
never  fail  to  impress  the  beholder. 

As  I  cast  my  eyes  around  upon  the  forms  of 
these  my  pleasant  companions,  and  reflect  upon 
the  doom  that  awaits  them,  I  cannot  repress  a 


VALUE    OF   THE   FOREST.  197 

sigh.  The  mercenary  lumberman,  with  his  un- 
sparing axe,  will  soon  be  here,  and  the  new 
settler,  folloAving  in  his  track,  dreaming  of 
smooth  hill-sides  and  wide  clover  fields,  will 
finish  with  fire  and  sword  what  the  lumberman 
has  left. 

Thinking  these  thoughts,  and  tasking  the 
meagre  stock  of  sylvan  knowledge,  unassisted 
by  study,  or  long  familiarity  with  the  woods, 
which  I  possessed,  I  fear  my  day,  that  might 
otherwise  have  been  profitably  occupied,  was 
idly  spent. 

I  should  be  ashamed  to  say  that  I  did  not  at- 
tempt, with  such  lights  as  I  had,  to  learn  some-  ' 
thing  of  the  individual  traits  and  family  rela- 
tionships of  these  companions  of  my  solitude,  or 
that  when  my  solitude  was  broken  by  the  return 
of  my  fellow-voyagers,  I  did  not  feel  a  sense 
of  loss.  The  mystic  chord  which  had  bound  us 
together  in  sweet  communion  for  so  many  hours, 
was  sundered  by  the  rude  contact  and  rough 
voices  of  the  omnivorous  herd  that  swept  down 
into  the  hollow,  and  henceforward  we  stood  apart. 

I  cannot,  however,  conclude  this  chapter 
without  referring  to  the  varieties  of  wood,  suit- 
able for  use,  that  prevail  in  this  forest.  If 
economy  is  the  synonyme  for  prudent  and  thrifty 


198  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA, 

management,  such  economy  applied  to  the  cut- 
ting of  these  woods,  and  their  adaptation  to  the 
wants  of  commerce,  must  insure  a  continuous 
source  of  wealth  to  its  proprietors. 

The  coniferse,  or  pine  family,  are  the  ruling 
class,  including  the  pines,  firs,  junipers,  cy- 
presses, spruces,  and  hemlocks,  commonly  char- 
acterized as  evergreens  ;  but  there  are  numerous 
deciduous  trees  mixed  in  with  these,  or  standing 
by  themselves  in  groups  —  the  ash,  walnut,  and 
cherry,  together  with  several  varieties  of  the 
maple,  among  which  the  sugar-tree,  with  its 
luxuriant  foliage,  attracts  particular  attention. 
I  infer  from  the  appearance  of  the  many  thick 
groves  of  these  trees  which  I  have  seen,  that  the 
sugar-maple  attains  perfection  in  this  county. 
The  white  pine  is  distributed  sparingly.  There 
are  some  noble  specimens,  fit  to  carry  the  flag 
of  an  admiral,  scattered  among  the  spruces  and 
hemlocks,  and  there  are  some  large  groves  of 
fine  trees  ;  but,  as  a  general  thing,  the  spruces 
and* hemlocks  make  the  rule,  and  pine  the  ex- 
ception. The  wealth  of  this  forest  may,  there- 
fore, be  classified  in  this  manner:  First,  the 
spruces ;  second,  the  hardwoods ;  third  the 
hemlocks  ;  and  fourth,  the  pines.  The  first  and 
third  of  these  classes  are  of  almost  incalculable 
resources,  and  they  are  fast   becoming   appre- 


VALUE    OF   THE    TIMBER,  199 

ciated  -as  substitutes  for  the  pine,  which  is 
rapidly  disappearing.  The  hemlock,  hitherto 
neglected,  will  have  a  double  duty  to  perform, 
and  one  of  these  duties,  not  least  in  importance, 
is,  to  furnish  bark  for  the  tanners,  who  are  now 
put  to  their  wit's  end  for  a  sufficient  supply. 
The  second  class,  including  the  hardwoods,  will 
derive  a  greater  value  from  their  proximity  to 
the  iron  ore  beds,  and  the  absence  of  mineral 
coals. 

This  great  wilderness  has  been  estimated  to 
contain  six  million  acres  of  timber  land. 

Mr.  Thomas  McCaw,  who,  several  years  ago, 
made  a  critical  examination  of  a  large  portion 
of  its  area,  and  whose  judgment  is  beyond  ques- 
tion, makes  this  estimate  of  the  quantities  of 
material  to  be  found  upon  one  acre,  as  a  mean 
of  the  forest,  namely  :  thirty  cords  of  merchant- 
able wood,  one  spar  of  128  cubic  feet  (as  a  mean), 
five  cords  of  hemlock  bark,  2280  feet,  board  mea- 
sure, of  pine  lumber,  13,680  feet,  board  measure, 
of  spruce,  hemlock,  &c.,  6840  feet  maple,  birch, 
beech,  &c.,  and  the  mean  net  value,  per  acre, 
to  be  $201.' 

It  is  only  necessary,  therefore,  to  multiply  the 
six  million  acres  by  $201  to  obtain  the  aggregate 
timber  value  of  the  forest. 


200  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA, 


CHAPTER    XVIIL 

?>reaking  up  Camp.  —  Regrets.  —  Pleasant  Memories  in 
Store.  —  Bustle  of  Preparation. 

''pHE  time  had  now  arrived  for  making  prepar- 
X  ations  to  return  to  Russell,  and  the  following 
morning  was  fixed  upon  for  our  departure.  I 
looked  forward  with  a  feeling  of  pleasure  to 
restored  communications  with  friends  at  home, 
i'rom  whom  we  had  been  as  much  separated  for 
several  days  as  if  we  had  been  shut  up  in  Hud- 
son's Bay,  there  being  at  present  no  mail  route 
lo  Harewood  Park  ;  but  this  feeling  of  pleasure 
was  tinged  with  a  fine  regret,  the  fruit  of  Na- 
ture's kindly  influence,  that  this  woodland  home, 
which  had  sheltered  us  with  so  much  care, 
these  stately  trees  which  had  fanned  us  by  day, 
iind  whispered  in  our  dreams  at  night,  these 
feathered  household  pets,  whose  notes  at  morn- 
ing and  evening  had  rung  in  our  ears  their 
accordant  changes,  the  gay  and  hopeful  wheat- 
bird,  full  of  the  joyous  promise  of  the  coming 
i^rain,  the  plodding  and  mechanical  woodpecker, 
jvlways  busy,  and  thinking  only  of  the  present, 
the  dark-visaged  raven,  clouding  the  sun  with 


REGRETS.  201 

his  wings,  and  dashing  our  joy  with  his  mut- 
tered warnings,  were  to  exist  hereafter  but  as 
memories,  —  pleasant  memories,  which,  how- 
ever much  covered  up  with  the  dust,  or  jostled 
by  the  rude  turmoil  of  every-day  life  to  which 
we  were  about  to  return,  shall  visit  us  often 
hereafter,  in  moments  of  rest  and  reflection,  with 
their  soothing  balm. 

My  companions,  with  the  exception  of  Mor- 
ton, did  not  seem  much  affected  by  any  senti- 
mental feelings.  They  were  accustomed  to  long 
absences  from  home,  and  to  look  upon  such  ex- 
periences as  we  had  had  during  the  last  few 
days  as  matters  of  practical  business,  bestowing 
more  thought  upon  any  trifling  mishap  which 
might  obstruct  or  retard  the  wish  or  purpose  of 
the  moment,  than  all  the  associations  of  home, 
or  of  the  place  in  which  our  habitation  had 
been  fixed,  with  its  vast  surroundings  of  forest, 
lake,  and  river.  And  yet  there  is  no  man,  how- 
ever much  hardened  he  may  have  become  by 
rough  contact  with  the  outside  world,  or  severe 
hardship  in  the  woods,  that  ever  loses  entirely 
his  susceptibility  to  the  tender  and  subduing  in- 
fluences of  Nature. 

"Whoso  walketh  in  solitude, 
And  inhabiteth  the  wood, 
Choosing  light,  wave,  rock,  and  bird 


202  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

Before  the  money-loving  herd, 

Into  that  forester  shall  pass, 

From  these  companions,  power  and  grace,"  — 

sings  the  poet,*  and  it  is  true. 

I  may  have  misjudged  the  sensations  of  my  fel- 
low-voyagers, and  I  am  sure  I  had  no  right  to 
judge  them  at  all,  much  less  to  include  the  squire 
in  any  statement  implying  a  want  of  proper  sen- 
sibility to  these  influences.  He  was  the  eldest 
among  us,  having  passed,  by  some  years,  the 
middle  stage  of  life,  and  was  now  on  the  de- 
scending grade.  After  a  few  days'  pleasant  so- 
journ among  his  old  friends  of  the  wood,  his 
eyes  naturally  turned  towards  the  distant  vil- 
lage. The  cares  of  his  family,  and  the  calls 
of  his  business,  overmastered  the  passion  of  his 
earlier  life. 

I  imagined  that  Brown,  who  really  had  no 
great  love  for  the  w^oods,  would  have  been  much 
more  at  home,  and  far  happier  in  the  village, 
tapping  a  pair  of  boots,  and  between  each  blow 
of  the  hammer  retailing  to  some  admiring 
visitor  the  story  of  his  trip  to  Poughkeepsie, 
than  he  could  possibly  be  in  the  forest,  where 
the  fear  of  getting  lost  hung  over  him  like  a 
pall,  and  the  mosquitoes  and  black  flies  singled 
him    out   for    their    sharpest    vengeance.      He 

*  R.  W.  Emerson. 


MEMORIES.  203 

began  to  hum  a  time,  on  the  conclusion  of  the 
council,  or  ''  smoke,"  as  it  might  properly  be 
termed,  which  fixed  our  return  on  the  morrow, 
and  this  was  a  significant  circumstance. 

I  felt  so  much  provoked  by  his  unseasonable 
cheerfulness  as  to  be  half  inclined  to  throw  a 
boot  at  him.  There  is  nothing  that  exasperates 
a  man  more  than  to  hear  his  friend  or  his  squire, 
to  whom  he  has  communicated  some  decision 
disagreeable  to  himself,  and  which  he  supposes 
may  prove  equally  disagreeable  to  the  other 
party,  either  begin  to  whistle  Hail  Columbia,  or 
sing  the  fag-end  of  some  old  song.  There  is 
an  unpleasant  surprise  in  it  that  tries  the  nerves. 
We  are  so  selfish,  naturally,  that  we  cannot 
bear  that  what  gives  us  displeasure  or  pain 
should  be  welcomed  with  delight  and  satisfac- 
tion by  another.  I  forget  the  tune  that  Brown 
hummed,  if  I  knew  it  at  the  time,  but  it  might 
have  been  the  shred  of  a  song  he  had  heard  the 
drovers  sing  in  the  fire-light  of  some  ancient 
tavern  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  it  may 
have  run  something  like  this,  without  injustice 
to  the  profession  :  — 

"  A  merry  life  the  drover  leads, 

Up  and  down,  up  and  down ; 

Driving  far  his  mottled  breeds 

To  the  town,  to  the  town. 
Hoa  !  holla  !  you  skulking  star, 
Gee  up!  you  speckled  brown." 


204  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

But  whatever  the  song  might  be,  it  was  evident 
that  Brown's  heart  was  drawing  home  to  the 
familiar  lapstone  and  the  corner  gossip  of  the 
village  ;  and  I  can  only  say  that  if  he  makes  as 
much  capital  in  the  way  of  story-telling  out  of 
this  adventure  as  he  made  out  of  the  Pough- 
keepsie  raid,  his  society  will  be  much  sought 
after. 

The  natural  if  not  inevitable  consequence  of 
all  housekeeping,  even  on  a  small  scale,  and  for 
a  short  period,  whether  in  civilized  life  or  in 
the  woods,  is  to  get  your  furniture,  your  table 
services,  cooking  utensils,  and  out-door  imple- 
ments,—  so  widely  scattered  as  to  require  some- 
thing more  than  a  drum  and  fife  to  call  them 
together  again  when  they  are  wanted  for  a  flight. 

This  was  exactly  our  case.  Mr.  Bromaghin 
having  taken  out  his  furniture,  and  leaving  noth- 
ing but  a  few  fixtures,  made  it  necessary  for  us 
to  rehabilitate  the  lodge  in  every  essential  par- 
ticular, and  what  the  scanty  materials  brought 
with  us  could  not  furnish,  was  of  necessity 
compassed  by  the  ingenious  brain  and  ready 
jackknife  of  our  valued  servitor.  His  con- 
structive talent  was  also  employed  in  the  build- 
ing of  a  summer  pavilion,  but  a  short  distance 
off,  and  opposite  the  lodge,  which  served  to  ex- 
tend the  range  of  our  domestic  establishment. 


THE  BUSTLE  OF  DEPARTURE.  205 

As  an  effort  of  architectural  skill,  this  structure, 
consummated  in  one  day,  during  our  absence, 
deserves  remembrance.  It  was  extremely  cred- 
itable to  him.  Not  the  severest  critic,  even 
Mr.  Ruskin  himself,  could  have  questioned 
its  faultless  lines.  Its  length  was  that  of  a 
respectable  fire-log  in  the  woods,  and  its 
height  sufficient  for  a  short  man  to  stand 
erect  in  it. 

It  had  but  one  fault,  and  that  was  occasioned 
by  the  nature  of  the  material  used  in  the  roof, 
which  consisted  of  branches  of  broom  ;  and  this 
fault  was,  that  a  parasitical  worm  would  occa- 
sionally drop  himself  down  from  the  lofty 
ceiling  upon  the  face  of  the  recumbent  sleeper. 
Over  this  extended  surface,  therefore,  our  port- 
able property  was  distributed  in  the  most  pro- 
miscuous manner. 

Brown  applied  himself  industriously  after 
supper  in  collecting  together  those  articles 
which  had  come  with  us  from  the  distant  settle- 
ment, and  were  bound  to  return  thither,  while 
the  squire  made  a  cache,  improperly  so  called 
in  this  case,  in  one  of  the  trees,  on  the  skirt  of 
the  wood,  of  the  remainder  of  our  provisions, 
for  Bennett,  who  was  expecting  to  return  in 
two  or  three  days  for  further  explorations  ;  and 
these  things  accomplished,  Morton  and  myself 


206  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

resumed  our  seats  upon  the  log  in  front  of  the 
fire. 

The  warm  sunlight  was  now  slowly  melting 
into  shade,  but,  lingering,  as  if  loth  to  depart, 
upon  the  edge  of  the  forest,  it  flooded  the  tops 
of  the  trees  like  a  sea  of  fire.  The  dark  green 
bolls  of  the  hemlock,  swayed  gently  by  the 
evening  breeze,  were  for  a  moment  all  ablaze 
with  its  lambent  flame,  but  the  sun,  dropping 
suddenly  into  the  distant  wood,  left  them  black 
as  funeral  plumes.  Through  the  silent  arches 
behind  us  the  dark  shadows,  a  spectral  host, 
were  hastening  up  from  the  east,  and  soon  filled 
all  the  grove.  Sitting  thus  in  the  fire-light, 
and  watching  the  fantastic  forms  into  which  the 
decaying  embers  fashioned  themselves,  the  even- 
ing settled  into  night,  and  night  into  sleep. 


HOMEWARD   BOUND.    -  207 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

Homeward  bound.  —  Imperfect  Knowledge  of  the  Region. 
—  Conjectures  of  the  first  Settlers  on  the  Hudson.  — 
Territory  of  the  Iroquois.  —  Sources  of  the  Rivers.  — 
"Water  Communication  between  the  Hudson  and  the  St. 
Lawrence.  —  Clifton  Ore  Bed.  —  Richard  Allen's. —  Sep- 
aration from  my  Companions. 

BEFORE  the  sun  had  climbed  above  the 
tops  of  the  trees  surrounding  our  camp, 
each  man  had  shouldered  his  pack,  and  stood 
waiting  for  the  word  of  command.  Brown 
took  another  look  at  the  cache,  to  be  sure  that 
it  was  so  disposed  as  to  defy  the  efforts  of  ani- 
mals to  reach  it.  The  decaying  embers  of  the 
fire  were  raked  together,  to  prevent  any  possi- 
ble danger  of  its  communication  to  the  grass,  or 
dry  wood  of  the  lodge,  and  then,  mounting  the 
wooded  ridge,  we  made  our  last  adieus  to  the 
Lares  and  Penates  of  Harewood  Lodge,  and 
plunged  into  the  thicket.  The  day  was  clear 
but  warm,  and  our  downward  tramp  to  the  set- 
tlement, diversified  by  occasional  halts  for  rest 
and  refreshment,  a  few  inconsiderable  accidents, 
and  much  discussion,  was  in  all  else  devoid  of 
particular  incident.     I  remarked  to  the  squire, 


208  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

as  we  set  out,  upon  the  lack  of  information  at 
present  existing  as  to  the  interior  region  from 
which  we  were  now  taking  our  departure. 

"  Yes,"  said  he  ;  "I  doubt  if  much  more  is 
generally  known  of  the  country  upon  this  side 
of  the  plateau  to-day,  at  least,  by  those  who 
derive  their  knowledge  from  books,  than  was 
familiar  to  the  early  settlers,  several  genera- 
tions ago  ;  and  I  question  if  a  page  of  descrip- 
tive matter  relating  to  it  can  be  found.  The 
lake  region  east  of  us  has  been  explored  and 
described,  and  admirably,  too,  by  Mr.  Street 
and  Mr.  Hammond ;  but  their  visits  did  not 
extend  much,  if  any,  beyond  Tupper's  Lake. 
The  conjecture  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  Hud- 
son River  was,  that  the  head  waters  of  that 
river  extended  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  De  Laet 
observes  that,  looking  up  the  river,  '  certain 
high  hills  were  seen,  from  which  the  waters  of 
the  river  proceeded,  and  to  all  appearance  it 
reaches  to  the  great  River  St.  Lawrence,  in 
Canada,  for  our  skippers  testify  that  to  this 
fort  Indians  came  from  St.  Lawrence,  and  even 
from  Quebec'  In  his  day,  the  Dutch  settle- 
ments were  confined  to  the  banks  of  the  river, 
and  all  that  was  known  of  the  sources  of  the 
Hudson  and  -the  interior  lakes,  was  founded 
upon  vague  reports  of  the  Indians  and  the 
fliorhts  of  birds." 


SOURCES    OF   THE   HUDSON.  209 

"  You  are  undoubtedly  correct,  squire  ;  for, 
before  coming  up  here,  I  sought  in  every  direc- 
tion for  some  published  work  which  should  lay 
open  to  me  the  secrets  of  this  treasure-house, 
but  in  vain.  The  books  you  mention  I  found 
with  difficulty,  but  read  with  pleasure,  as  also 
that  of  Mr.  Headley.  As  an  illustration  of 
this  complete  dearth  of  facts,  there  was  pub- 
lished, in  1824,  a  history  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  including  the  aboriginal  and  colonial 
annals  ;  —  a  work  of  considerable  research,  dat- 
ing back  to  the  conjectural  races  who  first  peo- 
pled America,  in  which,  referring  to  this  region, 
the  writer  says,  '  An  exact  knowledge  of  the 
northern  sources  of  the  Hudson,  and  its 
branches,  has  hardly  yet  been  acquired,  in 
consequence  of  the  wild  condition  of  the  re- 
gion which  embraces  them.'  Imagine  a  man 
sitting  down  to  write  a  history  of  New  York, 
filling  two  hundred  pages  of  his  book  with 
aboriginal  traditions  and  facts,  an  extended 
and  critical  examination  of  the  evidences  of 
the  existence  of  white  races  on  this  continent, 
long  descriptions  of  the  Indian  tribes  and  the 
voyages  of  the  old  discoverers,  and  turning  off 
the  sources  of  the  Hudson  River  with  the  par- 
agraph which  I  have  quoted  !  '* 

''  You  are  unnecessarily  severe,  sir  ;  it  is  not 
14 


210  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA. 

the  business  of  a  historian  either  to  explore  or 
make  a  topographical  survey  of  the  country 
about  which  he  writes.  All  that  you  have  a 
right  to  expect  of  him  is,  that  he  shall  faith- 
fully collect  together  and  chronicle  all  the  ex- 
isting facts.  I  think  your  author,  whoever  he 
might  be,  was  a  little  lame.  If  he  had  visited 
the  state  department  at  Albany  he  might  have 
learned  something  more  than  he  evidently  knew 
of  the  arrangement  of  these  waters,  from  the 
partial  surveys  which  had  been  made  previous 
to  that  time." 

"  Was  this  plateau  included  in  the  territory 
of  the  Iroquois  ?  '* 

"  Yes,  it  was  ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  improbable 
that  the  Indians,  on  their  way  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  Hudson,  as  De  Laet  suggests, 
passed  through  these  woods  and  waters.  They 
are  more  likely,  however,  to  have  followed  the 
Black  River  to  the  Mohawk,  and  that  river 
down.  Their  route  between  the  river  and 
Lake  Champlain  would  naturally  lie  along  the 
track  we  are  now  pursuing,  and  you  can  feast 
your  imagination,  if  you  like,  upon  the  idea 
that  this  road  was  once  thronged  with  red- 
skins. I  referred  to  the  conjectures  of  De 
Laet,  as  to  the  sources  of  ihQ  Hudson  River, 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  you  some  idea  of  the 


SOURCES   OF  THE   HUDSON.  211 

sources  and  direction  of  the  rivers  that  fall 
from  this  plateau,  which  I  have  not  been  able 
to  do  until  now.  There  are  at  least  six  great 
ranges  of  mountains  that  traverse  the  northern 
portion  of  the  State.  The  most  westerly  of 
these  ranges  is  termed,  by  the  geographers,  the 
St.  Lawrence.  We  are,  at  this  moment,  within 
eight  miles  of  one  of  the  principal  eminences 
forming  a  part  of  this  range,  which,  in  respect 
to  altitude,  is  a  molehill  compared  with  Mount 
Marcy,  Mount  Seward,  or  Mount  Mclntyre,  of 
the  Adirondack  group,  —  and  that  is  what  we 
call  the  Iron  Mountain,  in  Oakham.  This 
range  appears  to  make  the  dividing  ridge,  west- 
erly, between  the  waters  that  flow  into  the  St. 
Lawrence  River,  the  chain  of  lakes  in  Hamil- 
ton and  Essex  counties,  and  the  sources  of  the 
Hudson.  This  range  is  penetrated  by  the 
Racket  River,  on  the  easterly  side  of  Oakham, 
which  finds  its  source  in  Lake  Emmons  and 
Racket  Lake,  and  is  one  of  the  principal  tribu- 
taries of  the  St.  Lawrence  on  the  western  slope 
of  the  plateau. 

''  The  Grass  takes  its  rise  on  the  north  and 
east  sides  of  the  mountain,  in  Oakham.  On  its 
west  side  are  two  feeders  of  Cranberry  Lake, 
the  reservoir  of  the  Oswegatchie  River.  You 
will   see,  therefore,  that  this  ridge  constitutes 


212  THE    FOREST    ARCADIA. 

the  water-shed  in  greater  part  of  both  the  Grass 
and  Oswegatchie  Rivers.  The  latter  is  also 
fed  by  Oswegatchie  Inlet,  which  enters  the  Lake 
from  the  south-west,  and  lower  down  by  several 
small  branches.  The  source  of  the  St.  Regis 
is  found  in  the  cluster  of  lakes  north  of  the 
Upper  Saranac.  These  four  rivers  form  the 
principal  waters  descending  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence. 

"  The  Saranac  and  Ausable  Rivers  flowing 
north-east  into  Lake  Champlain,  receive  their 
waters  chiefly  from  the  Saranac  and  other 
lakes. 

''  Thirty  miles  distant  from  where  we  stand 
the  Hudson  River  reaches  its  Briarean  arms 
into  the  great  number  of  lakes  scattered  over 
Essex  and  Hamilton  counties. 

"  I  should  also  state  that  Bog  River,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  mountain  in  Oakham,  flows 
into  Tapper's  Lake,  and  may  be  considered  one 
of  thoL  feeders  of  the  Racket.  Thus  you  will 
perceive,  that  if  we  could  find  a  hill  bare  of 
trees  and  high  enough,  we  should  be  able  to 
see  every  one  of  these  great  water-courses 
setting  out  upon  their  different  journeys  to  the 
distant  horizon.  But  a  bare  hill  is  the  great- 
est of  all  rarities  in  the  wilderness. 

^' An  English  writer  published  in  London,  in 


HUDSON  AND  ST,  LAWRENCE.  213 

1799,  a  Jouroal  of  Travels  in  North  America 
and  Lower  and  Upper  Canada,  in  the  years 
1795-7,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  sources 
of  the  Hudson  and  Oswegatchie  Rivers  ap- 
proach so  near  each  other,  except  only  a  few 
portages,  as  to  admit  of  their  being  navigated 
by  batteaux  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the 
Hudson. 

"  We  have  seen  that  this  could  not  be  true  of 
the  Oswegatchie,  whose  branches  do  not  ap- 
proach the  Hudson,  unless,  by  a  long  portage, 
Cranberry  Lake  were  connected  with  Bog  River 
and  Tupper's  Lake,  in  which  case  by  following 
the  upper  course  of  the  Racket  the  head  waters 
of  the  Hudson  might  be  reached.  The  foreign 
traveller  of  1795  seems  to  have  been  much 
better  informed  than  the  native  historian  of 
1824. 

"  On  the  whole  I  think  it  highly  probable 
that  the  reports  of  the  Indians  to  De  Laet 
were  true,  and  that  it  may  have  been  possi- 
ble for  an  Indian  to  take  his  canoe  from  the 
Hudson  River  to  the  St.  Lawrence  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner  :  namely,  up  the  Hudson  River 
to  Ord*s  Falls  and  Lake  Harris,  thence  to  Rich 
Lake,  thence  to  Lily  Pond,  thence  to  Long 
Pond,  thence  to  Catlin  Lake,  thence  to  Round 
Pond,  thence   (a  portage  of  about  one  quarter 


214  THE    FOREST   ARCADIA, 

of  a  mile)  to  Long  Lake,  thence  down  the 
Racket  River  to  the  township  of  Piercefield. 
In  the  southern  portion  of  Piercefield  there 
is  a  succession  of  ponds  and  marshes,  ex- 
tending from  the  Racket  River  into  the  town- 
ship of  Jamestown  to  the  Grass  River.  The 
banks  of  the  ponds  and  the  borders  of  the 
marshes  show  that  in  times  past  the  water 
&tood  on  a  level  some  four  or  five  feet  higher 
than  at  present,  but  by  some  breakage  in  the 
natural  dams  of  earth,  by  reason  of  the  work- 
ing of  beavers,  or  from  some  other  cause,  these 
waters  have,  to  a  great  extent,  been  drained 
off  into  the  Racket  and  Grass  Rivers.  The 
marks  of  a  higher  elevation  of  the  waters 
spoken  of  are  clear  and  distinct ;  such  as  a 
natural  embankment  around  the  ponds  and 
marshes,  showing  the  old  shores  distinctly  dcr 
lineated  by  the  old  growth  of  trees  to  what 
was  the  water's  edge  of  the  ponds,  and  the 
banks  of  sand  and  soil  piled  up  by  the  action 
of  the  water.  Undoubtedly  there  used  to  be  a 
vrater  communication  by  this  route  from  the 
Racket  to  the  Grass  River,  somewhat  similar 
to  the  natural  canal  between  the  Grass  and 
the  Oswegatchie  Rivers  in  Canton.  But  here 
we  are  at  Bromaghin  Shanty  again." 

We    were   now   about   to    cross   Bend   Hill, 


CLIFTOJS/  ORE  BED.  215 

which  makes  the  only  serious  obstruction  be- 
tween Russell  and  the  lake. 

On  our  way  up  the  squire  had  intimated  his 
intention  to  explore  the  valley  on  the  north 
side  of  the  hill,  to  see  if  it  were  not  possible  to 
find  a  route  for  a  road  by  which  the  bad  grades 
of  the  hill  could  be  avoided. 

He,  accordingly,  after  a  short  rest,  took  the 
hatchet,  and  directing  us  to  pursue  the  track 
over  the  hill  and  wait  for  him  at  the  Clifton 
ore  bed,  four  miles  further  on,  committed  him- 
self to  the  woods,  and  was  immediately  lost  to 
sight.  The  remainder  of  the  party  commenced 
the  ascent  with  slow  steps,  for  the  sun  was  now 
getting  high,  and  the  heat  intense  for  a  day  in 
June,  and,  besides,  the  mosquitoes  were  ex- 
cessively troublesome.  Morton  and  myself, 
trudged  along  together,  with  Brown  in  ad- 
vance, loaded  down  with  his  tremendous 
burden. 

Our  sagacious  servitor  had  occupied  some 
of  his  leisure  moments  in  camp,  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  two  stout  canes,  about  five  feet  in 
length,  to  assist  him  on  his  homeward  tramp, 
but  they  proved  so  great  a  hindrance,  by  occu- 
pying his  hands,  which  were  every  moment 
needed  to  brush  away  the  mosquitoes,  that 
they  could  not  have  relieved  him  much. 


216  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

Morton  and  I  were  greatly  amused  by  the 
ludicrous  motions  which  he  made  with  the 
sticks ;  every  time  he  raised  them,  his  hands 
were  carried  to  his  face  to  slap  the  mosquitoes, 
and  the  bottom  of  the  canes  went  wide  into  the 
air ;  and  these  motions  were  so  constantly  re- 
peated as  to  make  it  very  funny.  He  had  not 
proceeded  far,  however,  before  he  came  to  a 
resolution  to  give  them  up  altogether,  and  turn- 
ing round  to  me,  said,  — 

"  How  the  mosquitoes  do  bite.  You  look 
pretty  well  fagged  out.  Here,  take  these  sticks, 
they'll  help  you." 

"  No,  I  thank  you.  Brown,"  I  replied.  "  You 
are  very  kind.     I  am  getting  along  finely." 

"  Plague  take  the  things,  then  ! "  — throwing 
them  on  the  ground,  and  pushing  forward. 

We  had  a  quiet  laugh  at  the  old  man's  ex- 
pense. I  picked  up  the  sticks,  which  he  had  so 
carefully  elaborated,  but  so  incontinently  aban- 
doned, and  found  them  a  rod  and  a  staff. 

After  two  hours  of  weary  travel,  we  at 
length,  reached  the  Clifton  ore  bed,  and  were 
^lad  enough  to  throw  down  our  packs  and  rest. 
The  squire  had  not  yet  come  in  from  his  ex- 
})loration  of  the  new  route. 

The  Clifton  ore  bed  is  one  of  the  great  veins 
of  iron,  about  which  so  much  has  been  said  in 


CLIFTON   ORE    BED.  217 

these  pages,  that  stratify  this  forest  from  one 
side  to  the  other,  and  it  is  really  a  great  vein. 
We  estimated  its  width  to  be  from  thirty  to 
forty  feet.  The  quality  of  the  ore  is  excellent, 
in  no  important  particular  different  from  that 
in  the  beds  in  Oakham,  Harewood,  and  Sher- 
wood. It  had  been  worked,  to  some  extent,  for 
the  supply  of  one  or  two  local  forges,  but  at  the 
time  of  our  visit  was  as  desolate  and  solitary  as 
it  is  possible  to  imagine.  The  owls  and  bats 
might  have  made  their  nests,  and  dwelt  in  per- 
fect security  in  the  log-house  which  had  shel- 
tered the  few  workmen  formerly  employed  in 
the  mine  ;  but  since  these  notes  were  originally 
penned,  a  change  has  passed  over  the  dream  of 
this  part  of  the  forest.  The  spot,  so  lonely  at 
the  time  of  my  visit,  lias  been  made  to  echo 
and  reecho  the  sounds  of  the  pick  and  the  drill ; 
rough  voices  fill  the  arches  of  the  solemn  woods, 
the  roads  groan  under  the  weight  of  massive 
crystals  of  virgin  ore. 

We  had  not  more  than  shaken  the  dust  of 
the  road  from  our  feet  before  other  spirits,  not 
less  ambitious  and  enterprising,  became  in- 
spired by  the  heralded  fame  of  the  iron  El 
Dorado,  and  our  footprints  were  trodden  out 
by  the  crowd  that  followed  us.  They  came  to 
the  Clifton  ore  bed,  saw,  and  were  conquered. 


218  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

The  mine  is  now  worked,  and  cannot  but  prove 
profitable,  as  well  as  of  great  local  benefit. 
Asking  the  reader  to  pardon  this  digression,  I 
resume  my  narrative.  —  We  had  concluded  our 
lunch,  and  were  lounging  lazily  under  the 
shade  of  the  trees,  when  the  squire  rejoined  us, 
completely  wilted  down.  He  had  succeeded  in 
finding  a  practicable  route  for  a  road  at  the  foot 
of  Bend  hill,  and  had  carefully  marked  it  by 
slashing  the  trees.  Brown  made  all  haste  to 
set  before  him  such  refreshments  as  our  nearly 
exhausted  stock  admitted,  and  we  had  soon  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  our  worthy  friend  restored 
to  pristine  strength  and  vigor. 

Once  more  upon  the  road,  and  after  an  hour 
or  two's  travel,  we  reached  Richard  Allen's, 
in  the  cleared  village  of  Monterey.  I  say 
cleared^  for  the  impression  made  upon  me  on 
leaving  the  shadows  of  the  woods,  and  coming 
into  the  broad  sunlight  of  the  open  country, 
was  like  that  of  the  sudden  parting  of  a  black 
cloud  which  has  obscured  the  sun  and  darkened 
the  earth,  or  like  taking  off  one's  hat  at  mid- 
day and  walking  bareheaded.  The  fields  looked 
marvellously  smooth  and  clean,  as  if  they  had 
been  combed  with  a  fine-tooth  comb,  and  the 
fences,  curious  arrangements  of  small  wood, 
looked  as  delicate  as.  the  reeds  in  my  lady's 
work-basket. 


RICHARD   ALLEN'S.  219 

The  hospitality  dispensed  by  Mrs.  Allen 
was  excellent,  in  point  both  of  taste  and  qual- 
ity ;  —  an  open  air  wash,  in  water  from  the 
purest  spring  in  St.  Lawrence  county  ;  soap 
that  looked  as  tempting  as  a  Bologna  sausage  ; 
and  an  immaculate  towel,  —  to  all  these  things 
was  superadded  a  tumbler  of  raspberry  wine  ; 
—  and  what  more  can  be  said  ? 

By  dint  of  muoh  diplomacy,  a  wagon  was 
secured  to  take  our  party,  together  with  the 
packs,  to  the  village  of  Russell,  where  we  ar- 
rived, without  accident  or  further  incident,  at 
about  dusk,  —  a  very  tired  and  a  very  hungry 
set ;  and  here,  with  the  exception  of  Morton, 
I  separated  from  my  fellow-voyagers  ;  —  the 
squire  to  resume  the  routine  of  his  every-day 
life,  Bennett  to  make  preparations  to  return 
again  to  the  forest,  for  the  purpose  of  an  ex- 
tended examination  of  its  more  hidden  recesses, 
Clark  to  meditate  upon  the  uncertainties  of 
mining,  and,  perhaps,  to  put  in  a  few  more 
blasts,  and  Brown,  —  ah!  we  could  not  part 
with  him  so  suddenly  ;  no.  While  Morton  and 
I  lingered  in  Russell,  Brown  occupied  our  first 
thoughts  in  the  morning  and  our  last  at  night. 
I  wish  him  well. 


220  THE  FOREST  ARCADIA, 


CHAPTER   XX. 

The  Squire  at  Home.  —  Canton.  —  Ogdensburg.  —  Its 
fine  Situation.  —  First  Settlement.  —  Many  beautiful 
Buildings.  —  Home. 

AFTER  a  day  or  two  of  i*est  at  Russell,  we 
began  to  look  homeward,  but  before  tak- 
ing our  departure,  we  made  a  ceremonious  call 
upon  the  squire,  at  his  own  house,  and  in  the 
bosom  of  his  family. 

The  squire  at  home  was  quite  another  per- 
son from  the  squire  in  the  woods.  The  ancient 
straw  hat  and  claret-colored  guernsey  jacket 
were  laid  aside,  and  he  appeared  in  a  nicely- 
fitting  bottle-green  frock,  with  velvet  collar, 
and  a  rigidly-starched  dickey.  It  was  evident 
that  he  was  not  a  neglected  man  among  the 
feminine*  part  of  his  household.  Our  adieus 
were  short,  but  very  hearty  on  both  sides. 

On  our  way  down  we  spent  a  few  hours  in 
Canton,  accepting  an  invitation  to  dine  with  an 
estimable  gentleman  of  that  village.  We  were 
most  agreeably  surprised  by  the  fine  appearance 
of  this  place,  which  is  the  shire  town  of  the 
county.      Its  location  upon  the   GraSs   River, 


THE   SQUIRE  AT  HOME.  221 

near  abundant  water-power,  in  the  midst  of 
one  of  the  best  agricultural  regions  of  North- 
ern New  York,  and  connected  by  railroad  east 
and  west,  gives  to  it  great  advantages. 

These  advantages  are  evidently  fully  appre- 
ciated by  its  citizens,  whose  activity  and  en- 
terprise are  every  where  apparent,  on  even 
the  most  cursory  survey  of  the  town.  An 
extensive  business  street,  with  many  large  brick 
stores,  well  filled  with  merchandise,  denote 
unusual  growth  and  prosperity  ;  while  the  pub- 
lic buildings,  churches,  and  academies  evince 
the  fact  that  they  have  not  been  negligent  of 
those  higher  interests  which  form  the  cement 
of  society. 

After  dinner,  we  took  the  train  for  Ogdens- 
burg,  where  we  arrived  in  season  for  a  com- 
fortable supper.  This  city  is  finely  situated 
upon  the  eastern  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
River,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswegatchie, 
whose  waters  we  had  observed,  only  a  few  days 
back,  from  the  shores  of  Cranberry  Lake,  set- 
ting out  upon  their  circuitous  journey  of  seventy- 
five  to  one  hundred  miles,  to  the  great  river, 
thence  to  find  their  way  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

We  could  not  help  giving  our  old  acquaint- 
ance a  pleasant  salutation.  Of  course  no  city 
could   be    better  located   for   commercial   pur- 


222  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA, 

poses.  It  forms  a  sort  of  middle-ground  for 
navigation,  that  of  the  lower  waters,  on  their 
upward  trips,  meeting  here  the  navigation  of 
the  lakes.  Besides,  it  is  the  terminus  of  the 
Northern  and  Rome  and  Ogdensburg  railroads, 
and  the  connecting  point,  from  the  east,  with 
the  Prescott  and  Ottawa  and  Grand  Trunk 
roads.  The  business  of  these  roads,  in  their 
connection  with  this  place,  is,  comparatively, 
in  its  infancy. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  hence,  if  the  internal 
commerce  of  the  country  keeps  its  present  ratio 
of  increase,  Ogdensburg  will  become  a  place 
of  great  magnitude  and  importance. 

Ogdensburg  was  originally  called  Oswe- 
gatchie,  and  a  settlement  was  first  made  under 
the  auspices  of  Samuel  Ogden,  by  Nathan 
Ford,  in  1796.  The  early  settlement  was  at- 
tended with  many  difficulties  and  drawbacks, 
which  were  not  finally  altogether  surmounted 
until  after  the  war  of  1812.  Ogden  derived 
his  title  from  the  State  of  New  York,  but  some 
British  subjects,  having  procured  leases  from 
the  Indians,  undertook  to  establish  a  settlement 
under  these  leases,  and  generally  to  obstruct  the 
plans  of  Mr.  Ford,  who  appears  to  have  been  a 
man  of  more  than  ordinary  energy  and  pru- 
dence, but  they  were  compelled  to  succumb  at 
last. 


OGDENSBURG.  223 

Its  situation  upon  the  Canada  frontier  oper- 
ated greatly  to  its  disadvantage  during  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain,  inasmuch  as  it 
kept  the  business  of  that  w^hole  section  in  a  dis- 
turbed state  for  several  years.  Emigration  was 
prevented  from  coming  in,  and,  in  addition, 
many  of  the  old  settlers  were  compelled  to  seek 
more  secure  abodes  elsewhere.  Thus  all  in- 
dustrial enterprises  were  prevented,  and  the 
great  natural  advantages  of  the  place  left  unim- 
proved. 

I  took  a  stroll  the  next  morning,  with  my 
fellow-voyager,  through  some  of  the  streets, 
and  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  so  many 
elegant  churches  and  private  mansions.  The 
Potsdam  sandstone,  which  is  observed  in  use  in 
some  part  of  ,almost  every  building,  either  for 
walls,  foundations,  or  tiles,  from  this  city  to 
Malone,  and  perhaps  beyond,  was  here  brought 
into  a  more  tasteful  arrangement ;  and  some  of 
the  houses  built  of  this  material  were  not  only 
substantial  in  appearance,  but  quite  imposing. 
I  was,  however,  much  better  pleased  with  the 
Toronto  brick,  which,  being  made  of  a  delicate 
cream-colored  clay,  very  soft  and  agreeable  to 
the  eye,  are  admirably  adapted  for  private 
dwelling-houses,  but  too  light  and  airy  for 
massive  structures.     How  well  they  will  bear 


224  THE   FOREST  ARCADIA. 

exposure  to  the  atmosphere,  I  was  not  able  to 
determine. 

The  principal  hotel  of  the  place,  the  Seymour 
House,  is  every  thing  that  a  traveller  could 
wish,  —  quiet,  unostentatious,  and  comfortable 
in  all  its  arrangements. 

And  tliis  is  all  that  a  sojourner,  of  but  a  few 
hours,  might  reasonably  be  expected  to  say  of 
the  city  of  Ogdensburg. 

At  noon  we  took  the  cars  on  the  Northern 
road,  and,  chatting,  dozing,  and  dreaming 
through  the  remainder  of  the  day  and  tlie 
following  night,  were  safely  set  down  the  next 
morning  in  Boston. 


n 


14  DAY  USE 

LETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

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